Editor,
The article in Tuesday's Daily Lobo by Jason Gil Bear stated that "20 percent of college women who suffer from an eating disorder die before the age of 25."
Thankfully, that's not a true statement.
Although deaths may occur from eating disorders, the rates are much lower than that. For women with serious cases of anorexia nervosa who require hospital care, death rates are clearly higher than for their peers, and in some studies about 15 percent may die by sometime in their 40s.
But, many women with eating disorders, including the large majority with bulimia nervosa, never require hospital care if they receive good outpatient treatment. The point to make is that these disorders can be serious, impair both mental and physical functioning and deserve to be acknowledged and treated.
Joel Yager, M.D.
UNM psychiatry professor
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