More than one in ten 17 to 19-year-olds in England have an eating disorder amid a rise in affected young people, revealed a survey, commissioned by the NHS.
It was conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the University of Cambridge and the University of Exeter. It is part of a series of surveys carried out since 2017.
Commenting on the findings, the NHS said that between 2017 and 2023, the rates of people with eating disorders rose both in young women (from 1.6 to 20.8 percent) and young men (from 0.0 to 5.1 percent).
The report also found that 5.9 percent of 20 to 25-year-olds had an eating disorder. There were no evident differences in rates between men and women.
Among younger groups, 2.6 percent of 11 to 16-year-olds suffered from the illness. This comprised an increase of 2.1 percent since 2017.
The rates in 2023 were four times higher in girls (4.3 percent) than boys (1 percent).
The survey findings show the “unprecedented pressures faced by young people,” said the NHS Mental Health Director Claire Murdoch.
She also reported a 47 percent increase in children and young people being treated for eating disorders compared to pre-pandemic. Close to 12,000 young people started urgent and routine treatment in 2022/2023, compared to a little over 8,000 in 2019/2020.
The NHS refers to patients with eating disorders as those who have a clinically impairing illness such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or another eating disorder.
Characterised by disturbances in eating behaviours and appetite, eating disorders usually starts in the teenage years and can cause heart and kidney problems, and even death.
Close to 25 percent said that they would be ashamed if others knew how much they ate.
For younger children, parents of 27 percent of those aged 11 to 16 years said that their child had never thought they were fat when others said they were thin. Responses were similar for boys and girls in this age group.
Vertiginous Rise
The Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England has previously warned that long waiting times result in fewer children and young people getting seen and treated for eating disorders.In the last quarter of 2022/2023, 45 percent of urgent cases were waiting more than 12 weeks to start treatments, while for routine cases, the figure was 34 percent.
“Left untreated, eating disorders can lead to severe malnutrition, family dysfunction, relationship breakdown and sometimes, tragically, death. Anorexia is known to have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric condition. As a result, it is vital that children and young people have access to effective and potentially life-saving treatment in a timely manner,” said the Children’s Commissioner Office.
The NHS survey also looked at the overall mental health picture in England. The findings showed that one in five children and young people aged eight to 25 had a probable mental disorder in 2023.
Self-harm was more common in children with a probable mental disorder. For young people, aged 17 to 24, and in terms of lifetime rates, 36.8 of them had at some point tried to harm themselves.
Mark Winstanley, chief executive of the Rethink Mental Illness charity, said that children and young people in England have been dealt a twin blow of a “global pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis without appropriate support to help them weather the storms.”
The “vertiginous” rise in eating disorders since 2017 is particularly alarming, he added.
