To document and describe the incidence and age-specific presentation of early-onset restrictive eating disorders in children across Canada. Design: Surveillance study. Cases were ascertained through the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program by surveying approximately 2453 Canadian pediatricians (a 95% participation rate) monthly during a 2-year period.

Health-care providers and caregivers should be aware of pro-anorexia websites and their content, as these websites contain information that promote and support anorexia nervosa.

Childhood and adolescence are critical periods of neural development and physical growth. The malnutrition and related medical complications resulting from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and eating disorder not otherwise specified may have more severe and potentially more protracted consequences during youth than during other age periods. The consensus opinion of an international workgroup of experts on the diagnosis and treatment of child and adolescent eating disorders is that (a) lower and more developmentally sensitive thresholds of symptom severity (e.g. lower frequency of purging behaviours, significant deviations from growth curves as indicators of clinical severity) be used as diagnostic boundaries for children and adolescents, (b) behavioural indicators of psychological features of eating disorders be considered even in the absence of direct self-report of such symptoms and (c) multiple informants (e.g. parents) be used to ascertain symptom profiles. Collectively, these recommendations will permit earlier identification and intervention to prevent the exacerbation of eating disorder symptoms.

No abstract