Britain among the worst hit nations in global eating disorder crisis as cases soar 71%...after Celebrity Traitors star reveals anorexia struggle

Eating disorders have surged 71 per cent across the globe over the last three decades – with Britain being one of the worst affected nations, a major analysis has found.The UK has unusually high rates of anorexia and bulimia, with a prevalence of over 493 cases per 100,000 people. This is six-fold higher than Somalia – the nation with the lowest incidence of the conditions across the 204 nations studied. Other countries with similarly high incidence include Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and Nordic nations such as Norway, Finland and Sweden.Australia is the worst affected country, with 1,026.5 cases per 100,000 people – more than twice that of the UK. The US, meanwhile, ranked in the second highest category, with 318.1 cases per 100,000.The analysis, by an international team including scientists from the University of Queensland, also noted a striking rise in the number of global cases. The biggest increase was seen in men, with diagnoses rising by 74.6 per cent since 1990, on average, across the globe. In women the increase was 69.5 per cent. A map in the study shows the countries and territories with the highest prevalance of anorexia and bulimiaAustralia and New Zealand saw the largest surge of 83.5 per cent for the two nations combined.However, when the study authors controlled for the average population age of the country, they found the biggest rise was in East Asia, at 61.5 per cent.In Western Europe, including the UK, age-adjusted diagnoses of the potentially deadly disease rose by 20 per cent.Previous studies have suggested that the number of people living with eating disorders in the UK has trebled since 2017, rising from 1.25 million to 3.5 million today.The latest analysis estimated that some 3.9 million people across the globe are living with anorexia, and 14.2 million with bulimia. If the current rising trajectory continues, there will be 4.7 million individuals with anorexia and 17 million with bulimia nervosa by 2050, the scientists predict.For the study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers analysed a combination of population surveys, systematic reviews and official diagnostic records to compile 'the most substantive update of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa estimates since 2017'.The scientists estimated prevalence of both conditions in 204 nations between 1990 and 2023, and looked for significant changes over time.Countries were then grouped into ten bands according to the number of people living with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa per 100,000 population. Speaking of the findings, the researchers said the variation in prevalence between countries was likely due to a 'complex interplay' of genetic, socioeconomic and cultural factors.'East Asia experienced the largest increase in these eating disorders, coinciding with rapid economic growth and profound socioeconomic transformation in the region,' they wrote.The authors conclude by calling for better prevention, early detection and increased capacity for evidence-based treatment, amid the 'rapid growth' in cases. Last year's Celebrity Traitors star Celia Imrie revealed earlier this month that she underwent electroconvulsive therapy at the age of 14 to treat an eating disorderExperts have previously blamed a number of factors for the UK's growing eating disorder crisis.More time spent on social media apps like Instagram and TikTok, exam anxiety and restricted access to mental health services during the pandemic are proposed factors.Earlier this month 74-year-old actor and Celebrity Traitors star Celia Imrie revealed she underwent electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) at the age of 14 to treat an eating disorder.The 74-year-old developed anorexia after she failed to get accepted at the Royal Ballet School and was subsequently admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in Lambeth, where she received treatment from William Sargant.Sargant's controversial methods included the use of ECT and antipsychotic and sedative drugs, with Imrie revealing in her autobiography that she was traumatised by watching other women being 'assaulted in the name of health'. ECT sends an electric current through the brain, causing a seizure, with the aim of relieving severe symptoms of some mental health problems.Healthcare professionals have been divided about its use, with critics saying evidence supporting its use is poor, while its potential side effects including memory loss, sight problems and trauma can be debilitating.Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine, Imrie also recalled the Sleep Room, where patients were forced into a drug-induced sleep for days on end while tapes played instructions to them.Imrie says her cure was 'nothing to do with Sargant', rather that she was challenged by a nurse saying she was taking the bed of a 'really sick child'.She said: 'That was the best thing she could have said to me. What she said was a trigger. No, I hate using that word. It was a firework.'