The incidence of anorexia nervosa in Netherlands Antilles immigrants in the Netherlands.
OBJECTIVE
Previously we found that the incidence of anorexia nervosa (AN) in the general population was much lower in the Netherlands Antilles than in the Netherlands. As a follow-up we compared the incidence of AN in the Netherlands in persons from the Netherlands Antilles to native Dutch.


METHODS
A national register of psychiatric hospital admissions was screened for cases of AN. Incidence rates (IR) and incidence rate ratios (IRR) were computed.


RESULTS
The IR of AN was 1.32 per 100 000 person years (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53-2.71) for Netherlands Antilleans and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.04-1.15) for native Dutch. The age- and sex-adjusted IRR was 1.21 (95% CI: 0.58-2.54).


CONCLUSIONS
Contrary to the Netherlands Antilles, in the Netherlands AN is as common among Netherlands Antilleans as among native Dutch. Exposure to the Western idealization of thinness is a risk factor for the development of AN, possibly in interaction with migration-related stress.
van Hoeken
Daphne
D
Parnassia Bavo Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Veling
Wim
W
Smink
Frederique R E
FR
Hoek
Hans W
HW
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009427:Netherlands Antilles / Q000208:ethnology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012922:Social Change