Eating disorders affects many children

Millions of Americans — many of them children — suffer from eating disorders, which is why Children's collaborates with The Elisa Project. The hospital's mission to make life better for children intersects for the common good with The Elisa Project's mission to bring awareness to the signs of eating disorders and to educate the community about nutrition and body image acceptance.

Awareness is the key to understanding the impact of these psychiatric diseases on girls and boys across the country. National Eating Disorders National Awareness Week is Feb. 22-28. Locally, The Elisa Project is coordinating a series of events to address the awareness of these devastating disorders. One highlight of these events is The Elisa's Project's annual professional symposium, which offers clinical information for those on the front lines of treating eating disorders.

The symposium also offers a community tract specially designed for parents and other adults who interact with children, including coaches, school nurses and teachers.

The facts about eating disorders are eye-opening:

• The mortality rate for eating disorders is thought to be as high as 20 percent, making it the most lethal of all psychiatric illnesses.
• Eating disorders are the third-most common chronic illness in adolescent girls.
• Among female athletes, the prevalence of eating disorders is reported to be between 15 and 62 percent.
• Forty-two percent of girls in the first through third grades report they want to be thinner.
• Eighty-one percent of 10-year-olds have restricted their food intake in an attempt to be thinner.
• Thirteen percent of high school girls purge.
• As many as 1 in 100 females between the ages of 12 to 18 have anorexia and by the time they reach college, 4.5 percent to 18 percent of women and 0.4% of men have a history of bulimia.
• While more girls than boys are affected by eating disorders, males still account for 5-10 percent of bulimia and anorexia cases.

Children's Center for Pediatric Eating Disorders

Children's Medical Center specializes in all types of eating disorders. It is the only facility with a comprehensive pediatric eating disorders program in the Southwest United States that offers a family-based full continuum of care for both children and adolescents, including a specialized track for boys of all ages. Patients can be referred for treatment to the program from both in- and out-of-state.

If you are concerned that your child may have an eating disorder, call the Children's Center for Pediatric Eating Disorders at 214-456-8899.

Activities during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week include:

• Publication of a special Sunday section Feb. 22 on eating disorders in The Dallas Morning News sponsored by Children's Medical Center
• The Elisa Project's 10th annual professional Symposium for the Prevention and Treatment of Eating Disorders, Feb. 26-27 at CityPlace Dallas.
• The Elisa Project's Community Tract symposium for parents and school faculty, Feb. 27, at CityPlace Dallas.
• A special free showing at 7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 27, at Southern Methodist University by Children's, The Dallas Morning News and the Delta Gamma Foundation of the documentary "America the Beautiful."

UT Southwestern Medical Center has been a cosponsor of the symposium for the last nine years and is offering CEU credit. Speakers include Dr. Stephanie Setliff, medical director of the Center for Pediatric Eating Disorders at Children's and assistant professor, division of child and adolescent Psychiatry, at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Shari Scott, a registered nurse, marriage and family therapist, and director of the Center for Pediatric Eating Disorders at Children's.

Tags: eating disorders , pediatric eating disorders , Elisa Project