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Anorexia
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An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of females suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime. Symptoms of anorexia nervosa include:

- Resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal
weight for age and height
- Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight
- Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is
experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or
denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight
- Infrequent or absent menstrual periods (in females who have reached
puberty)
People with this disorder see themselves as overweight even though they are
dangerously thin. The process of eating becomes an obsession. Unusual eating
habits develop, such as avoiding food and meals, picking out a few foods and
eating these in small quantities, or carefully weighing and portioning food.
People with anorexia may repeatedly check their body weight, and many engage in
other techniques to control their weight, such as intense and compulsive
exercise, or purging by means of vomiting and abuse of laxatives, enemas, and
diuretics. Girls with anorexia often experience a delayed onset of their first
menstrual period.
The course and outcome of anorexia nervosa vary across individuals: some
fully recover after a single episode; some have a fluctuating pattern of weight
gain and relapse; and others experience a chronically deteriorating course of
illness over many years. The mortality rate among people with anorexia has been
estimated at 0.56 percent per year, or approximately 5.6 percent per decade,
which is about 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all causes of
death among females ages 15-24 in the general population. The most common
causes of death are complications of the disorder, such as cardiac arrest or
electrolyte imbalance, and suicide.
Source: nimh.nih.gov
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