Eating Disorders: Epidemiology

Epidemiology is a branch of medicine that studies the incidence and prevalence of a particular condition or disorder. Incidence and prevalence are two basic measures of the frequency of a characteristic in a population. Incidence refers to the rate of new cases in the population over a specified period of time (e.g., 1 year). The incidence of eating disorders (EDs) is commonly expressed in terms of per 100,000 persons per year (person-years). Prevalence refers to the proportion or percentage of active cases in the population at one given time. Prevalence can be expressed in numerous ways, such as point prevalence, 1-year prevalence, and lifetime prevalence. Point prevalence is the prevalence at a specific point in time (e.g., January 1 of this year); 1-year prevalence is ...

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