Eating disorders in teens lead to higher suicide risks, a new study shows, with many sufferers prone to having suicidal thoughts.
Researchers report that 9 percent of more than 10,000 teens aged 13 to 18 surveyed suffer from bulimia nervosa, 3 percent from anorexia nervosa, and 1.6 percent from binge eating disorder, CNN reports.
The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, is billed as the largest and most comprehensive look at teens and eating disorders. Researchers at the National Institutes of Mental Health found the majority of those with any eating disorder also were burdened with at least one other mental health issue.
This was the case with nearly nine in 10 bulimic adolescents, and more than eight in 10 of those with a binge eating problem, website HealthDay News reports. All eating disorders were associated with a higher lifetime risk for suicidal tendencies, according to the report.
Researchers also noted that the age when patients began having eating disorders was "markedly younger" than in previous estimates, CNN reports. The median age for the onset of anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating and other eating disorders was 12.
Though boys and girls appeared to be equally susceptible to anorexia, girls were found to be more likely to develop bulimia and/or binge eating disorders.
