Eating Disorder Statistics
Approximately 30 million Americans live with an eating disorder. (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders)
The lifetime prevalence of eating disorders is highest among those with a binge eating disorder (5.5% compared to 2% for bulimia and 1.2% for anorexia). (Biological Psychiatry, 2007)
Eating Disorder By Sex
Eating disorders were more prevalent among young women (3.8%) than men (1.5%) in the U.S. as of 2001-2004. (Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2010)
A quarter of those with anorexia are male. Men have an increased risk of dying because they are diagnosed much later than women. This could be in part due to the misconception that men do not experience eating disorders. (Eating Disorders Resource Catalogue, 2014)
Eating Disorder Impacts
About one person dies every hour as a direct result of an eating disorder. (Eating Disorders Coalition, 2016)
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. (Smink, F. E., van Hoeken, D., & Hoek, H. W., 2012)
Anorexia is the most deadly mental illness. One study found that people with anorexia are 56 times more likely to commit suicide than people without an eating disorder. (Eating Disorders Coalition, 2016)
Diabetes patients who have an eating disorder, struggle with controlling their diabetes, which exposes them to diabetic complications such as heart disease, stroke, neuropathy, loss of vision, and kidney disease.
Up to half of the people with an eating disorder misused alcohol or illicit drugs at a rate five times higher than the general population. (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2003)
The vast majority (97%) of people hospitalized for an eating disorder have a co-occurring health condition. Mood disorders, like major depression, are the primary underlying condition followed by anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorder. (Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 2014)