A study found 1.5 per 200?000 British children under 10 had anorexia. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

symptoms ofMore children have anorexia than previously though?More than two and a half times as many children under 10 have anorexia nervosa as previously thought? according to the first study into eating disorders among British children.

On average? 1.5 in every 200?000 British children under 10 have anorexia? according to experts from the UCL (University College London) Institute of Child Health? who carried out the research.

Direct comparison with previous UK data is limited but a general practice registry study in the early 1990s found an incidence estimate of 0.6 per 200?000 for anorexia among children aged up to nine.

The findings have shocked experts? who called for urgent action to help save young lives. there are no national paediatric guidelines for the care of individuals with eating disorders.

Recognition of eating disorders in children by GPs can be poor and? unfortunately? many eating disorder services are aimed specifically at adolescents? said Dr Dasha Nicholls? a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the UCL Institute of Child Health and the studys lead researcher.

Childhood eating disorders are not quick or easy to treat. for a minority of children it may be the start of a severe and enduring illness? with death rates comparable to some forms of leukaemia.

Early-onset eating disorders defined as those starting before 13 years of age represent a significant clinical burden to paediatric and mental health services. Efforts to improve early detection are needed but our study also shows there is an urgent need to consider the needs of children with eating disorders separately and not simply lower the age range of existing adolescent services? said Nicholls.

Most of the 208 patients in Nichollss study were girls 82% but boys accounted for almost one in five cases.

More than 80% of the children in the study? to be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry? had an anorexia-like illness: 37% had diagnosable symptoms while 43% were classified as having an unspecified eating disorder because although they showed symptoms of anorexia they were not underweight. Only 4% had bulimia.

An additional one in five children had symptoms of disordered eating? such as food avoidance and being underweight? but did not have a preoccupation with their weight or shape.

Half were admitted to hospital? over 70% of whom had anorexia. after a year? almost two thirds were still receiving treatment. 73% had improved but 6% were worse and 10% unchanged.

Almost 44% of the children had a close family member with a history of mental illness? most commonly anxiety or depression. another fifth had a history of early feeding problems? particularly fussy or picky eating.

Studies suggest that although the incidence of eating disorders has been fairly static over the past few decades? anorexia is being diagnosed among children in increasingly younger age groups.

Data on the rate and outcome of early-onset eating disorders is sparse. The National Inpatient Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Survey found that eating disorders were the most common diagnosis among child and adolescent psychiatric in-patients in England and Wales? 9.2% of whom were under 13.

The survey? however? did not include children on paediatric wards. ours are the first published data on the scale of paediatric resource used by this patient group in the British Isles? said Nicholls.

Previous research from the NHS Information Centre has found that children aged 14 to 16 account for one in every three patients treated in hospital for an eating disorder? an 11% rise on the 2?316 cases recorded for the previous 12 months.

The centres data? however? found only a small number of 10-year-olds diagnosed with conditions including anorexia and bulimia.

A 1999 Office for National Statistics study found 0.3% of 11- to 15-year-olds had an eating disorder? with no one in the five- to 10-year-old age group.

The new study found wide variation in confidence among paediatricians over how to treat children. this study provides the baseline figures needed to determine whether increases in hospitalisation rates are real or perceived? and can aid planning of age-appropriate services? said Nicholls.

Because the new study gives the first estimate of the incidence of early-onset eating disorders? Nicholls said she was unable to say if there hsymptoms of bulimiaas been a rise in this group. But we hope our research can be used as a baseline from which to monitor future trends? she added.

The findings have galvanised concern that societys obsession with physical appearance is making children become body-conscious at an increasingly early age. Blame has been placed on everything from poor parenting to the media and websites such as Facebook.

When Miranda turned eight? her parents took her to a pizza parlour to celebrate. for any other child? it would have been a common enough treat. But for Miranda ?????????? ????? the trip was nothing short of momentous as it signified a return to health.

Now 11? Miranda finds it hard to remember why? at seven? she developed an eating disorder so severe that she stopped eating and drinking and ended up almost 10kg underweight? with a body mass index (BMI) of 12.5. (A BMI of under 18.5 is officially underweight.)

I remember living in a clinic with other children. None of us could eat normally? she said. I was there for five months. they said I had food avoidance emotional disorder. I dont know where it came from but in my diary? I said it was like having a pixie in my tummy. The pixie was like the devil. when I wanted to eat? the pixie would fight me. At the beginning? in my diary? I said the pixie was stronger than me. But then I got stronger than him. I remember it being like he got smaller and I got bigger. The pixies not in my tummy any more. I hope he never comes back.

What is Zeitgeist? Zeitgeist is an experiment in showing trending news? topics and articles from the Guardian. Find out more in our blog post.

Ideal for a variety of terrain? these lightweight ice treads will improve footing on ice? snow? mud or grass.

.m-guardianbookshop .rank float: left; margin-left: -15 .m-guardianbookshop .thumb .rank margin-left: 0; .m-guardianbookshop h4 border-top: none !important; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 5px !important; padding: 5px 0 8px 0 !important; .m-guardianbookshop .bestsellers background-color: fff; padding-bottom: 17.m-guardianbookshop ol padding: 0 5 .m-guardianbookshop .l1 clear: both; padding-left: 15 .m-guardianbookshop .thumb padding-left: 0; .m-guardianbookshop .thumb img float: left; margin: 2px 10px 9px 0.m-guardianbookshop .price display: inline; .m-guardianbookshop .thumb .price display: block; .m-guardianbookshop .rank? .m-guardianbookshop .book-title font-weight: bold; .m-guardianbookshop input border: 1px solid 999; width: 75%; min-height: 16 margin-top: 8 padding: 3px 2

Fears grow over care of mentally ill as GPs say they dont want the job

Family doctors feel unready to order mental health services? polls find

Teenage girls on diets more likely to suffer eating disorders

Teenage girls who diet even moderately are five times more likely to develop a serious eating disorder like bulimia or anorexia? according to research published today in the British Medical Journal.

Posted on: Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 06:05 CST

New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control show that new cases of hepatitis C have remained stable since dropping dramatically during the early 1990s.

During the mid-1980s, about 70 of every one million Americans developed acute hepatitis C each year, the CDC said.  however, that rate was 90 percent lower, or only 7 per million per year, between 1994 and 2006.

Intravenous drug users accounted for a growing proportion of hepatitis C cases over the years, and their risk of infection remains an important public health issue, the CDC researchers said in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

New hepatitis C infections are usually not obvious, and in most cases exhibit no symptoms initially.  instead, the virus quietly damages the liver for years until it is diagnosed. 

Roughly twenty five percent of newly infected patients have what’s known as "acute hepatitis,” which includes symptoms such as fever, nausea and a yellowing of the skin due to improper liver function.  these patients also tend to feel particularly sick.

Tracking rates of acute hepatitis C gives researchers a sense of whether rates of silent new infections are rising or falling, the health agency said.

Hepatitis C is passed through contact with infected blood, typically by sharing contaminated needles, although a small percentage of cases are sexually transmitted or passed from mother to baby during childbirth.

Measures to curb hepatitis C transmission among drug users have so far "had success to some degree," said Dr. John Ward, director of the CDC’s division of viral hepatitis who was not involved in the current study, in an interview with Reuters.

In conducting the study, Dr. Ian Williams and colleagues analyzed rates of acute hepatitis C reported in six U.S. counties between 1982 and 2006, and found that the rate of new infections had dropped.

They also found that among those receiving transfusions, for instance, the risk of infection from hepatitis C virus in the blood steadily fell over time.  Indeed, just five possible cases were identified between 1994 and 2006.

All donated blood in the U.S. has been tested for hepatitis C since 1992, and the risk of receiving a donation tainted with the virus is estimated at one in 2 million, the CDC said.

The number of cases related to injection drug use also fell over time, although drug abuse accounted for a growing percentage of acute hepatitis C infections, increasing from 32 percent of cases in the 1980s to more than 46 percent for the years 1994 through 2006.

In more than 30 percent of cases, there was no clear risk factor, although most of those people reported past drug abuse.

Efforts to limit HIV transmission among I.V. drug users have also been very effective, Dr. Ward said.

However, it has been more difficult to battle hepatitis C, because it spreads more easily than HIV, he added.

Even a tiny amount of blood on a shared needle could transmit hepatitis C, he said.

Furthermore, injection drug users’ knowledge of how to prevent hepatitis C transmission "is just not as deep as it is for HIV," Dr. Ward said.

The other continuing public health concern involving hepatitis C is the large number of Americans with chronic infection who may someday develop serious liver disease.

An estimated 3.2 million Americans are living with chronic hepatitis C, about half of which are unaware of the disease, Ward said.

These people often develop inflammation of the liver, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver tissue) and in some cases, liver cancer.  

Indeed, in the U.S. and many other nations, hepatitis C is the number one reason people require liver transplants.

The CDC recommends that people at elevated risk for hepatitis C — including those with a history of injection drug use and those who received a blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1992 — be tested for the virus.  if an infection is discovered, doctors can conduct routine blood tests of liver function to detect early signs of liver disease.

There are also medications for hepatitis C patients that can clear the virus in some people.

• Study Abstract
• CDC

Source: RedOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category