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The incidence and prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in primary care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Hans W. Hoek
Hans W. Hoek*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Clinic, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Hans W. Hoek, Psychiatric Clinic, University of Utrecht, PO Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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Synopsis

General practitioners using DSM-III criteria have studied the incidence and prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in a large (N = 151781) representative sample of the Dutch population. The incidence rate for anorexia nervosa is 6·3 and for bulimia nervosa 9·9 per year per 100000 population. The prevalence of bulimia nervosa is three times higher in larger cities than in smaller urbanized or rural areas, while anorexia nervosa is found with almost equal frequency in areas with a different degree of urbanization.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , May 1991 , pp. 455 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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