- Anorexia nervosa is now affecting children as young as
eight, Australian doctors warned today.
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- In one case, a four-year-old contracted the eating disorder,
they said.
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- The average age of children with the illness has dropped
from 14 1/2 years in 2001 to 12 years now, a nationwide study found.
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- The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit surveyed
all paediatricians in Australia over a 12 month period to June.
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- Adolescent specialist Dr Michael Cohen, who worked on
the study, said doctors had treated eight-year-old children with anorexia
ñ and that he had once treated a four-year-old boy.
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- The report found that high achieving children from successful,
middle class families were most vulnerable to the disorder.
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- "These are people that place inordinate pressure
upon themselves," Cohen said. "It is a pattern to cope with this
stress."
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- Anorexia was no longer only a reaction to media images
of slim women, but everyday stresses felt by both genders, Cohen said.
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- The report said eating disorders ranked as the nationís
third worst health problem for girls under 18, trailing obesity and asthma.
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- While girls remained worst affected, the number of boys
succumbing to the disorder had risen in the past two years, Cohen added.
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- About one in 250 girls under 18-years-old were affected
and one in 1,000 boys.
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- The disorder put children at risk of permanent physical
damage at a critical period in their growth, and could result in later
infertility, stunted growth and brittle bones as well as death, he said.
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- Child psychiatrist Sloane Madden, who headed the study,
said "there is a growing sophistication among young children now.
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- "They describe feeling 'fat' and a desire to look
like models and actresses," he said.
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- The study coincides with reports about an eight-year-old
girl who was being marketed as an adult model by her parents.
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- The report drew the ire of Australiaís minister
for Children and Youth Affairs, Larry Anthony, who said the photos ñ
of a heavily made-up girl ñ were not "appropriate".
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- © Thomas Crosbie Media
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- http://breaking.examiner.ie/2003/08/11/story109288.html
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