Eating Disorder Statistics

IN CANADA...

* Eating disorders are the most common chronic illnesses in the female adolescent population, with an incidence of up to 5% (Golden et al., 2003).

* 95% of reported hospitalized cases of anorexia and more than 90% of hospitalized cases of bulimia in Ontario were women (Gucciardi et al., 1995)

* Some studies have found that young men represent about 10% of individuals with eating disorders (Steiger and Séguin, 1999)

* Men are more likely to be affected by binge eating disorder than any other type of eating disorder (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2002).

* Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, between 18-20% (Cavanaugh, 1999) .

* A study published in 2001 reported that 23% of adolescent females were dieting to lose weight (Jones et al., 2001).

* Surveys have shown that 7.7% of men have a strong fear of being overweight, compared to 18.5% of women (Gadalla and Pran, 2007) .

* In 2005, more than 500,000 Canadians suffered from some sort of eating disorder (Canadian Mental Health Association).

* One study suggests that unhealthy dieting behaviours are reported in girls as young as 10 years of age (McVey et al., 2004).

IN ONTARIO...

* In one study, it was found that by the age of 18 years, 80% of girls of normal height and weight reported that they would like to weigh less. (Jones et al, 2001)

* Significant symptoms of eating disorders were reported by 27% of Ontario schoolgirls aged 12–18 years. (Jones et al, 2001)

* In a recent study, it was found that 29.3% of the Southern Ontario girls examined were currently trying to lose weight. (McVey et al, 2004)