Urbanisation and the incidence of eating disorders

The link between degree of urbanisation and a number of mental disorders is well established. Schizophrenia, psychosis and depression are known to occur more frequently in urban areas. In our primary care-based study of eating disorders, the incidence of bulimia nervosa showed a dose–response relati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of psychiatry 2006-12, Vol.189 (6), p.562-563
Main Authors: Van Son, Gabriëlle E., Van Hoeken, Daphne, Bartelds, Aad I. M., Van Furth, Eric F., Hoek, Hans W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aetiology
Aged
Child
Eating disorders
Environmental aspects
Feeding and Eating Disorders - diagnosis
Feeding and Eating Disorders - epidemiology
Female
Humans
Incidence
Male
Middle Aged
Netherlands - epidemiology
Risk Factors
Rural Health - statistics & numerical data
Short Report
Urban Health - statistics & numerical data
Urbanization
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The link between degree of urbanisation and a number of mental disorders is well established. Schizophrenia, psychosis and depression are known to occur more frequently in urban areas. In our primary care-based study of eating disorders, the incidence of bulimia nervosa showed a dose–response relation with degree of urbanisation and was five times higher in cities than in rural areas. Remarkably, anorexia nervosa showed no association with urbanisation. We conclude that urban life is a potential environmental risk factor for bulimia nervosa but not for anorexia nervosa. These findings provide a promising avenue for further research into the aetiology of eating disorders.
ISSN:0007-1250
1472-1465
DOI:10.1192/bjp.bp.106.021378