The number of patients worldwide suffering from anorexia and bulimia has risen by more than 70 percent over about 30 years. Concerns are also being raised that GLP-1 weight-loss drugs widely used to treat obesity could worsen symptoms in some patients with eating disorders.

On Oct. 30, MIT Technology Review reported that a research team led by Ruhai Bai (루하이 바이) at the Children's Hospital affiliated with Nanjing Medical University in China analysed data from 204 countries and regions. It said the number of people worldwide living with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa rose 71 percent from 1990 to 2023.

A study published on Oct. 28 in the international academic journal JAMA Psychiatry estimated about 18.1 million people had the two conditions in 2023. Of those, 41.2 percent were aged 10 to 24. Health loss from the conditions totalled 3.83 million years in disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs.

The researchers forecast that the number of patients would reach 21.8 million in 2050 if the rise continues. The analysis did not include other types of eating disorders such as binge eating disorder.

Population growth also affected the increase in the number of people with the conditions, but the age-adjusted prevalence rate rose 20.6 percent over 33 years.

Experts pointed to potential risk factors including pressure for a thin body spreading on social media and social isolation during the COVID-19 period. Cynthia Bulik (신시아 불릭), a professor at the University of North Carolina, warned that a culture of comparing appearances on social media and diet trends could trigger eating disorders.

The spread of weight-loss drugs is also a new variable. In a Gallup survey, 15 percent of U.S. adults said they had used GLP-1 drugs for weight loss.

A small survey by a research team led by Cheri Levinson (셰리 레빈슨), a professor at the University of Louisville, found 30 percent of patients with eating disorders had used GLP-1 drugs, and about 10 percent had misused them. Levinson said she was also seeing patients in clinical settings who misuse the drugs and show severe eating-disorder symptoms.

It has not been proven that GLP-1 drugs are a direct cause of the increase in eating disorders. Their potential to ease some binge-eating symptoms is also being studied.

Recently released expert guidelines recommended checking for a history of eating disorders before prescribing GLP-1 drugs and continuously monitoring symptom changes during treatment. They stressed that prescribing decisions should be made cautiously for high-risk groups, including patients with active anorexia.