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Eating disorder behaviors are increasing: findings from two sequential community surveys in South Australia

Citation

Hay, PJ and Mond, J and Buttner, P and Darby, A, Eating disorder behaviors are increasing: findings from two sequential community surveys in South Australia, PloS one, 3, (2) Article e1541. ISSN 1932-6203 (2008) [Refereed Article]


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Copyright Statement

Copyright 2008 Hay et al. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001541

Abstract

Background: Evidence for an increase in the prevalence of eating disorders is inconsistent. Our aim was to determine change in the population point prevalence of eating disorder behaviors over a 10-year period.

Methodology/Principal Findings: Eating disorder behaviors were assessed in consecutive general population surveys of men and women conducted in 1995 (n  =  3001, 72% respondents) and 2005 (n  =   3047, 63.1% respondents). Participants were randomly sampled from households in rural and metropolitan South Australia. There was a significant (all p < 0.01) and over two-fold increase in the prevalence of binge eating, purging (self-induced vomiting and/or laxative or diuretic misuse) and strict dieting or fasting for weight or shape control among both genders. The most common diagnosis in 2005 was either binge eating disorder or other "eating disorders not otherwise specified" (EDNOS; n  =  119, 4.2%).

Conclusions/Significance: In this population sample the point prevalence of eating disorder behaviors increased over the past decade. Cases of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, as currently defined, remain uncommon.

Item Details

Item Type:Refereed Article
Keywords:eating disorders
Research Division:Health Sciences
Research Group:Health services and systems
Research Field:Mental health services
Objective Division:Health
Objective Group:Public health (excl. specific population health)
Objective Field:Mental health
UTAS Author:Mond, J (Dr Jon Mond)
ID Code:117956
Year Published:2008
Web of Science® Times Cited:222
Deposited By:UTAS Centre for Rural Health
Deposited On:2017-06-29
Last Modified:2017-09-20
Downloads:138 View Download Statistics

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