There has been a significant rise in the number of teenage girls diagnosed with eating disorders in recent years, academics have warned. Experts also sounded the alarm over an increase in rates of self-harm among teenage girls.
With more girls diagnosed in wealthier neighbourhoods, eating disorder experts said there could be a "postcode lottery of care", with those in more deprived communities unable to access the support they need. The new study, published in the Lancet Child And Adolescent Health journal, saw experts examine UK GP records for children and young people aged 10 to 24 between 2010 and 2024.
The researchers from the University of Manchester, Keele University, University of Exeter and mental health research charity The McPin Foundation looked at anonymised GP health records of more than nine million patients from 1,881 general practices in the UK. Since March 2020, when the pandemic hit, eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia were 42% higher than would be expected for teenage girls aged 13-16, and 32% higher for those aged 17-19, they found.
