Eating disorders, cases on the rise under the age of 13 and among the over 30s

Eating disorders have been talked about for years, but how little attention is there still today on the front of prevention, communication and access to treatment? The latest research conducted byHigher Institute of Healthreleased in March of 2022, he noted nearly 9,000 dependent patients of one of the accredited centers in Italy for the treatment of eating disorders (DCA). A very different number from the figure, albeit underestimated, of at least 3 million people that do not get to the necessary treatments.

As recently communicated by Jama Pediatricalso in Italy 1 in 3 teenagers manifest disordered eating habits, while 1 out of 5 is the worldwide figure. These are significant numbers, which are worrying, as disordered eating behaviors could represent a stage immediately preceding the onset of DCA.

New pre-adolescent cases

In general, the numbers speak of a prevalence of the appearance of the disorder during adolescence, and in particular in the 14-25 age group. Yet the data report a scenario in which girls and boys under the age of 13 also suffer. A situation that has worsened in recent years, especially due to the pandemic emergency.
“Long periods of isolation have affected everyone’s mental health, especially adolescents and young adults,” he points out Valeria Fiorenza Perrispsychotherapist and Clinical Director of Good one. “I am many factors at the origin: from fear of what was happening to constant access to food, from the influence of the media to the sudden upheaval of one’s daily life. In response to everything that was happening around them, many people began to experience compensatory behaviors, such as compulsive exercise, episodes of calorie restriction or the use of laxatives. Those who, on the other hand, already suffered from an eating disorder got worse, risking one relapse or one chronicity of the problem”.

Problems on the rise even after the age of 30

Eating disorders are not, however, exclusively youthful problems. «The collective imagination attributes the idea of ​​anorexia or bulimia above all to people in adolescence and, very often, the onset of a disorder in adulthood is underestimated», he adds Florence Perris. «Since, in November 2022, we started the project with Soul, we have also received numerous requests for support from women and men over 30 years old. Well the 20% are, in fact, between 30 and 39 years old and the 24% of patients are over 40. The onset of signals related to an ED in adulthood can be caused by various reasons: it can represent, for example, a recurrence of the symptoms already known in people who had already faced these problems in the past, it can be the manifestation of new symptoms or it can represent the diagnosis of a disorder that the patient had already had for many years, but which had not previously been recognized as an eating disorder and therefore not adequately treated. There therapy in this play a decisive role in recognizing and becoming aware of what is happening and, subsequently, in taking care of the deeper causes that contribute to the persistence of the symptoms”.

To confirm an increase in cases in people over 30 is Aurora Caporossi herself, founder and president of Soul, a non-profit association created by a team of young people to tell, inform and raise awareness on Eating Disorders. “It wasn’t a big surprise to get requests for support from adults,” she explains. “Health care facilities, both public and private, are saturated and in recent years we have witnessed an ever-decreasing number of patients over 30”.

Lack of health care

Adequate diagnosis of eating problems requires therapeutic treatment that ensures collaboration between mental health and nutrition services. But at the health level, the healthcare scenario on the front of this type of disorder still reveals major problems. In fact, it has only been since 2021 that the Ministry has entrusted the National Center for Addiction and Doping of the ISS with the task of mapping the centers dedicated to the treatment of DCA and the results are not too encouraging: they are few regions with more than five structuresalmost non-existent in the centre-south of the country and which, even where present in the north, struggle to bear the ever increasing demand.

“Too often the patients they can’t even get to first aid, do not know who to turn to or, having to resort to the private sector, they are unable to face the costs even for a psychological path that can support them”, highlights Aurora Caporossi. «As an association that operates on the territory we are constantly in contact with the reality regarding eating disorders made up of pilgrimages of entire families who move from region to region to find a place of treatment. The possibility of accessing treatment must not depend on the luck of being born in a region that has structures and professionals ».

The public structural deficiency is one of the reasons that prompted the association Soul in close cooperation with Good one: “it is essential that a patient can promptly receive at least psychological support, and in parallel, thanks to our network, be able to find all those professionals who complete the multidisciplinary team for the treatment of these pathologies”, adds Caporossi. «With the service of Good one we get there where people can’t access services. Because often, even today, these services are not there».

Anorexia and eating disorders: in Italy there is an emergency of beds in specialized structures

Eating disorders from 0 to 6 years: what to do when they occur at an early age

Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating: the “imperfect muses”. The photographic project

“Men suffer from eating disorders too. Here’s how I overcame them”

“I’m 40, I’m anorexic and I can’t find the courage to talk about it”

“I was throwing up 40 times a day”