Global cases of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa rose 71% between 1990 and 2023, according to a new report published in JAMA Psychiatry. The team, led by Ruhai Bai at the Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University in China, estimated 18.1 million people were living with one of the two disorders in 2023. Bai and his colleagues project that number could reach 21.8 million by 2050.
The researchers pooled data from studies and surveys across 204 countries and territories and used statistical models to fill gaps. They estimated the disorders cost the world about 3.83 million years of healthy life in 2023, based on disability-adjusted life years.
Cheri Levinson, a clinical psychologist at the University of Louisville who was not involved in the study, says she sees more patients with more severe symptoms than at any point in her career. She says many of them are misusing GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. "This is the worst I've seen things," she says. Levinson also said she expects the figures to keep rising, and that the two disorders make up less than half of all eating disorders.
Cynthia Bulik, a clinical psychologist at the University of North Carolina who was not involved in the study, points to social media as a possible contributor. She says comparisons, influencers, challenges and diet trends can trigger eating disorders. The report did not explore the causes of the rise.