Hospitalization for anorexia nervosa in Italy.
OBJECTIVE
This study provides: a) rates of hospitalization for anorexia nervosa (AN) in Italy in 2004-2005 period; b) an estimate of the incidence of moderate to severe hospitalized AN in the same period among persons aged 10-19 years.


METHODS
9863 hospital discharges of patients aged 10-59 years with a diagnosis of AN (ICD9CM code 307.1) were extrapolated from the Italian Hospital Discharges Database. Patients aged 10-19 years, first admitted in 2004-2005, never hospitalized for AN in 2001-2003, were assumed to be a reasonable proxy of incident cases.


RESULTS
Crude rate of AN associated hospitalization was 24.2 per 100,000 person-years among women and 1.6 per 100,000 person-years among men. Estimated incidence rate of AN was 22.8 per 100,000 among women compared with 2.0 per 100,000 among men in the 10-19 years age group.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides, for the first time, nationwide incidence estimates of AN in Italy.
Gigantesco
Antonella
A
Center of Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy. antonella.gigantesco@iss.it
Masocco
Maria
M
Picardi
Angelo
A
Lega
Ilaria
I
Conti
Susanna
S
Vichi
Monica
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000855:Anorexia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult