Trends in hospital admissions for eating disorders in a country undergoing a socio-cultural transition, the Czech Republic 1981-2005.
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that the socio-cultural transition in the 1990s in Eastern Europe was associated with an increase in admissions for eating disorders (ED).


METHODS
Cases of ICD-9 and ICD-10 ED in 1981, 1986 and 1992-2005 and first admissions for ICD-10 anorexia nervosa (AN) in 1994-2005 were retrieved from the Czech national register of hospital admissions. Age- and sex-adjusted admission rates (per 100,000) were calculated and time trends tested by Poisson regression.


RESULTS
The admission rate for ED in females aged 10-39 quadrupled from 2.6 (95% CI 2.1-3.0) in 1981 to 10.6 (95% CI 9.8-11.5) in 2001, and remained elevated till 2005. The rate of first-time admissions for AN in 10- to 39-old females increased from 4.5 (95% CI 3.6-5.4) in 1994 to 7.5 (95% CI 6.3-8.6) in 1999, followed by a non-significant decrease.


CONCLUSIONS
Temporal association of an increase in admissions with socio-cultural transition suggests that risk of severe ED including AN is culture-dependent.
Pavlova
Barbara
B
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, PO78, 4 Windsor Walk, London, SE5 8AF, UK. b.pavlova@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Uher
Rudolf
R
Dragomirecka
Eva
E
Papezova
Hana
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012922:Social Change; D014507:Urbanization / Q000639:trends