Introduction
Eating disorders (EDs) are unique among psychiatric illnesses, because patients experience both physical and psychological disturbances (Wiseman, Sunday, Klapper, Harris, & Halmi, 2001), thus making them an important health problem (Rome et al., 2003).
Dieting behaviours in children and adolescents are widespread and impact on the prevalence of EDs. Each year in the United States, 5 million people are diagnosed with EDs and hospitalization may be required for accompanying medical complications (Schwartz, Mansbach, Marion, Katzman, & Forman, 2008). Epidemiological data indicate that, in western countries. Similarly, the prevalence of anorexia nervosa stands at around 0.3–0.4% in young women; the prevalence rate for bulimia nervosa is around 1% for young women and 0.1% for young men (Bulik et al., 2006, Hoek and van Hoeken, 2003, Julián et al., 2002, Kjelsas et al., 2004, Kohn and Golden, 2001, Olesti Baiges et al., 2008 and Pérez-Gaspar et al., 2000).
While epidemiologic data can enable us to estimate the prevalence of EDs, results are often contradictory due to the lack of a standard methodology. Information is available from hospitalization records, although only the most severe cases are highlighted (Gucciardi, Celasun, Ahmad, & Stewart, 2004).
The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has published national estimates of hospitalizations for EDs from 1999–2000 to 2005–2006. ED-related hospital stays increased between 1999 and 2006 in all age groups, with the greatest increase in children aged under 12 years (Zhao & Encinosa, 2009). Other authors have estimated that one-third of individuals diagnosed with EDs will be hospitalized during their illness (Calderon, Stoep, Collet, Garrison, & Toth, 2007).
The fact that these patients may be more malnourished means that they could experience more severe cardiac, metabolic, and neurologic complications (Steinhausen, 2009). One cohort study indicated that psychiatric morbidity is an important predictor of EDs (Patton, Selzer, Coffey, Carlin, & Wolfe, 1999). Other studies have found that, in just under a third of adolescent patients with EDs, the condition persisted in young adulthood (Lewinsohn et al., 2002 and Patton et al., 2003).
In Spain, studies using questionnaires, report the clinical characteristics of patients hospitalized due to EDs (Fernández-Aranda et al., 2007 and Rodriguez Martin et al., 2005). However, few studies have examined hospitalization rates in children and adolescents. The authors of a study involving 352 children and adolescents hospitalized with eating disorders in the State of New York found that the mean length of stay was 18 days, with a mean cost per stay of $10,019, and that length of stay was not influenced by age group, sex, or ethnicity (Robergeau, Joseph, & Silber, 2006).
More information is necessary on hospitalization trends in patients with EDs. We describe and analyze the characteristics of hospital admissions due to EDs among children and adolescents during the period 1998–2007 in Spain.
