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Almost 600 children below the age of 13 have been treated in hospital for eating disorders in the past three years, new figures have revealed.
The statistics include 197 children between the ages of five and nine - with cases within this age group almost doubling over the period.
Experts blamed the trend on a pernicious celebrity culture which glorified size zero figures, leaving increasing numbers of young girls struggling to cope with their growing bodies.
The figures, from 35 NHS hospitals in England, show more than 2,100 children were treated for eating disorders before they reached their sixteenth birthday.
They include 98 children aged between five and seven at the time of treatment and 99 aged eight or nine. Almost 400 were between the ages of 10 and 12, while more than 1,500 were aged 13 to 15.
Even these statistics, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, are likely to be an underestimate.
Some NHS hospitals treating such patients refused to provide any data, while among the 35 hospitals, some would only disclose the figures for those children admitted to wards after becoming dangerously emaciated - excluding those undergoing psychiatric therapy as outpatients.
Susan Ringwood, chief executive of eating disorders charity B-eat said the figures reflected alarming trends in society, with young children internalising messages from celebrity magazines, which idealised the thinnest figures.
Read rest of article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/c...en-children-treated-for-eating-disorders.html
Questions:
The statistics include 197 children between the ages of five and nine - with cases within this age group almost doubling over the period.
Experts blamed the trend on a pernicious celebrity culture which glorified size zero figures, leaving increasing numbers of young girls struggling to cope with their growing bodies.
The figures, from 35 NHS hospitals in England, show more than 2,100 children were treated for eating disorders before they reached their sixteenth birthday.
They include 98 children aged between five and seven at the time of treatment and 99 aged eight or nine. Almost 400 were between the ages of 10 and 12, while more than 1,500 were aged 13 to 15.
Even these statistics, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, are likely to be an underestimate.
Some NHS hospitals treating such patients refused to provide any data, while among the 35 hospitals, some would only disclose the figures for those children admitted to wards after becoming dangerously emaciated - excluding those undergoing psychiatric therapy as outpatients.
Susan Ringwood, chief executive of eating disorders charity B-eat said the figures reflected alarming trends in society, with young children internalising messages from celebrity magazines, which idealised the thinnest figures.
Read rest of article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/c...en-children-treated-for-eating-disorders.html
Questions:
- Do you currently have an eating disorder?
- Have you ever had an eating disorder?
- Do you know of someone who has an eating disorder?
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