Topic of Interest: eating Disorders

Transcription

1 Topic of Interest: eating Disorders A person with an eating disorder will exhibit an abnormal attitude towards food, resulting in a change in behavior and eating habits. Eating disorder sufferers with anorexia or bulimia may focus excessively on their weight, body shape, and image causing them to make unhealthy choices about food which can have damaging results to their health. Eating disorders may be dealt with in primary care, however in this report we will focus on those which resulted in hospital admissions. Between June 2010 and May 2011 There were 2,566 finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for all eating disorders compared to 2,575 in the previous 12 months, representing a decrease of 0.3%. 89% (2,289) of the FCEs were female, representing a one percentage point decrease on the previous 12 months when 90% (2,318) were female. The average episode duration was 38 days The graph below shows the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) per month from June 2009 to May For the purpose of this report we have classified eating disorders by the ICD- 10 Code F50 Eating Disorders. NHS Choices 1 states Anyone can develop an eating disorder, regardless of age, sex or cultural or racial background. But the people most likely to be affected tend to be young women, particularly between the ages of 15 and 25. The graph of HES data below shows that young women aged between 10 and 24 are most likely to be admitted to hospital for an eating disorder.

2 However, when focussing on individual ages we see that largest number of episodes is for year olds. Types of eating disorders Eating disorders include a range of conditions that can affect someone physically, psychologically (mentally) and socially (their ability to interact with others). Common types of eating disorders include: Anorexia Nervosa This is characterized by deliberate weight loss, induced by the patient, usually by under eating and/or over exercising. This can lead to

3 disturbances in normal body function. Atypical anorexia nervosa is a disorder associated with anorexia but with one or more of the key symptoms missing. Bulimia Nervosa is characterised by repeated bouts of over eating (binge eating) followed by vomiting or the use of purgatives (such as laxatives). Atypical bulimia nervosa is a condition associated with bulimia but with one or more of the key symptoms is missing. Other eating disorders (which fall into the F50 ICD-10 code) include, overeating or vomiting associated with psychological disturbances as well as other or unspecified eating disorders The pie charts show the number of finished consultant episodes for types of eating disorders. NHS Choices states Bulimia is around five times more common than anorexia nervosa and 90% of people with bulimia are female. It usually develops around the age of 18 or 19. Despite this higher prevalence of bulimia, the number of inpatient attendances for anorexia is much higher. The percentage of types of eating disorders has remained almost constant over the past 2 years.

4 Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from to and 7 prior to ) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. ICD-10 F50 Eating Disorders - 4 character diagnosis codes: Anorexia F50.0 Anorexia nervosa

5 F50.1 Atypical anorexia nervosa Bulimia F50.2 Bulimia nervosa F50.3 Atypical bulimia nervosa Other eating disorders F50.4 Overeating associated with other psychological disturbances F50.5 Vomiting associated with other psychological disturbances F50.8 Other eating disorders F50.9 Eating disorder, unspecified Data quality Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Provisional data Data from April 2009 June 2010 is provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from ) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data.