Eating Disorders Increase Risk of Death

 

People who suffer from anorexia, bulimia, as well as unspecified eating disorders, have a higher rate of death than those without the disease, according to newly published research out of Loughborough University in the U.K.

Researchers poured over three dozen studies conducted between 1966 and 2010. The studies followed over 17,000 individuals with eating disorders and found that individuals who had suffered from anorexia, bulimia,or other eating disorders had a higher rate of death than their healthy eating counterparts. Individuals with anorexia nervosa were 5 times more likely to die, with 1 in 5 anorexia-related deaths due to suicide. Bulimics, and those with unspecified eating disorders, were twice as likely to die.

People with anorexia have a distorted body image that causes them to see themselves as overweight even when they’re dangerously thin. Often refusing to eat, exercising compulsively, and developing unusual habits such as refusing to eat in front of others, they lose large amounts of weight and may even starve to death.

Physical problems associated with anorexia nervosa include damage to the heart and other vital organs, low blood pressure, slowed heartbeat, constipation, abdominal pain, loss of muscle mass, hair loss,sensitivity to the cold, and fine body hair growth.

While eating disorders may start with preoccupations with food and weight, they are most often about much more than food. People with eating disorders often use food and the control of food in an attempt to compensate for feelings and emotions that may otherwise seem overwhelming. Treatment should include a multi-dimensional approach, to heal both the body and the mind, working on behavior modification and lifestyle changes. Deep-rooted behavioral issues are also often a cause of eating disorders, and should be addressed to accomplish full recovery.

Hospitalizations for eating disorders jumped by 119 percent between 1999 and 2006 for kids younger than 12 and severe cases of both anorexia and bulimia have risen, as has “partial syndrome” eating disorders(where some, but not all, of the symptoms occur).

Researchers in this U.K. study could find no singular cause to account for the increase in deaths among those with eating disorders, but the effects of the disease on major organs are thought to be a contributing factor.