People at risk

Anorexia would often start during adolescence. The age of onset of anorexia is between 14 and 18 years, but in 10 to 20% of cases, the disease appears before 12 years, and for a smaller percentage, after 25 years. 

It would affect girls more frequently than boys (boys affected for every 1 girls). Anorexia nervosa like other eating disorders affects populations in industrialized countries more.

Certain professions that require physical performance (athlete, actor, model, dancer¹⁰, athlete) for which it is important to have some control over your weight and body image, have more people suffering from eating disorders than other trades.

Finally, people suffering from chronic pathologies involving a strict diet (type 1 diabetes, familial hypercholesterolemia, etc.) are more likely to develop anorexia nervosa.

Risk factors

A dramatic event (divorce, bereavement, etc.) or a change in daily life can be the cause of the onset of anorexia in an already fragile person.