A coalition led by Harvard’s Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) is asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor eating disorders as part of its national disease surveillance efforts. Bryn Austin, a professor at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and director of STRIPED, explains why this is critical for the treatment and prevention of eating disorders.

1. Experts Appeal to CDC:
Monitor Eating Disorders
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2. A coalition led by Harvard’s Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating
Disorders (STRIPED) is asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to
monitor eating disorders as part of its national disease surveillance efforts. Bryn Austin, a
professor at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and director of STRIPED,
explains why this is critical for the treatment and prevention of eating disorders.
Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, which is the most known condition of this type.
What people don’t know, however, is that there are also conditions like bulimia nervosa
and binge eating disorder, which is by far the most common, affecting somewhere close
to 4% of the U.S. population. Current dataindicate that around 30 million Americans will
likely be affected by eating disorders in their lifetime, and probably double or triple of that
number will be affected by what is called sub-clinical eating disorders. Itdoesn’t mean that
the latter is not potentially harmful; the cases just don’t reach all the criteria to merit a
psychiatric diagnosis.

3. Prevalent Among Teens
What STRIPED is concerned about from a health perspective is that eating disorders can
affect all systems of the body. One of the long-term effects of the disorders is bone loss.
When the disorder disrupts the hormonal system, which can happen either from extreme
weight loss or from the weight cycling or purging that happens as part of the disorder, the
bones do not grow healthily.
During the teen years, this could mean a lifelong risk of osteoporosis or potent fractures
down the road. There’s also the risk of fertility loss, gastrointestinal issues, and dental
problems resulting from purging on enamel and tooth erosion. Teenagers with these
conditions also have a particularly high mortality rate.

4. A National Institute of Mental Health report said that 2.7 percent of all teens had been
diagnosed with an eating disorder. And there are likely many more who fall under the
radar and are not included in any report.
Studies show that eating disorders may manifest in teens because of social stigmas,
including body image concerns, and a reluctance to come forward to talk about their
problem. The scary reality of these statistics is that 1 in 2 teenage girls and about 1 in 3
teenage boys have a form of eating disorder.
Monitoring is Vital
Diagnosed eating disorders, specifically anorexia nervosa, carry the highest death rate of
all mental health disorders. This is due in part to the higher-than-average rate of suicide
among those with eating disorders, and partly to the medical complications associated
with the conditions.
Adolescents are among those most at risk, as the most common age of onset for eating
disorders is between 12 and 25. For females between 15 and 24 years old who suffer
from anorexia, the mortality rate associated with the illness is 12 times higher than the
rate of all other causes of death.

5. The CDC had been tracking eating disorder symptoms on the Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System Survey, which is conducted every two years in high schools in many
states across the country. The agency had been doing it for more than a decade, but in
2015, it dropped this particular survey.
The CDC already has a dozen or more standard tracking system surveys out in the field,
so STRIPED is asking them to include questions about eating disorders in these surveys.
It can be very easy to include a few more questions, for example, to identify symptoms of
unhealthy weight control, which may indicatean ongoing or potentialeating disorder. The
agency may also include questions designed to identify abuse of weight control products
or steroids, which is often connected to body image concerns in boys and men.
Medical practitioners or professionals involved in providing treatment for individuals with
eating disorders need to detect people’s symptoms early so they can bring them into care
programs. Currently, only a third of the people in the U.S. with such disorders receive
treatment. Many clinicians also don’t receive training in early detection, so they aren’t
equipped to refer people to treatment.
Eating disorders are treatable. The U.S. has good treatments in place for most patients, if
only the government can identify who these patients are, get them access to health care,
and help them overcome the barriers of stigma and affordability.

6. References:
https://eatingdisorder.care
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/cdc-eating-disorders-tracking/
https://health.usnews.com/health-care/for-better/articles/2018-01-04/the-truth-about-
teen-eating-disorders