Criteria for Hospitalization for Anorexia

Basic Facts About Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia along with bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder make up a trio of the most common eating disorders worldwide. According to the Office on Women’s Health, anorexia alone is thought to be the third most chronic illness among pre-teen and teenage girls in the U.S.

Anorexia Symptoms

The criteria for hospitalization for anorexia usually occur later in the progression of the disorder. The first signs and symptoms of anorexia are as follows:

• Lack of proper calorie intake.
• Not eating although hungry or eating very little.
• Diet addiction and a habit of limiting calories although body weight is already slender.
• Continuing to limit eating although body weight falls below a healthy weight
• Preoccupation with food and eating habits of themselves and often others; almost a food addiction but just not of eating food – anorexic individuals often tend to do a lot of cooking for others.
• Intense fear of weight gain.
• Distorted body image; in that they may be very thin but see fat when they look in the mirror.
• Sometimes symptoms of bulimia (eating and vomiting) is experienced in addition to the symptoms of anorexia.

Anorexia Statistics

Overall rates of anorexia are hard to pin down because often an individual with one eating disorder will also show signs of another. Frequent misdiagnose is common, and the final statistics are fuzzy. Most research points out that anywhere from one to four percent of the female population are affected.

Men are affected as well but only make up an estimated five to ten of the total percentage of individuals with anorexia in the U.S. Caucasian and Hispanic females are more affected by anorexia than Black and Asian women.

Criteria for Hospitalization for Anorexia & Advanced Symptoms

Often the reasons for hospitalization of an individual with anorexia are intertwined with advanced anorexia symptoms. There are three categories of reasons regarding why an individual might be hospitalized for anorexia: psychiatric, medical, and medical complications.

Psychiatric Reasons for Hospitalization

• Family crisis or high stressor occurring (start of college, end of relationship, etc)
• Refusal to comply with treatment
• Suicide threats
• Self-mutilation
• Severe depression or anxiety
• Presence of another mental instability like psychosis
• Poor response to outpatient treatment
• Family evaluation is necessary – usually this means that a nurse or doctor need to provide education about anorexia t the entire family so that outpatient treatment will be more successful

Complications and Medical Reasons for Hospitalization

Complications and medical criteria for hospitalization for anorexia are intertwined.

The key medical indicators are basic starvation signs; brittle hair and nails, poor skin turgor, an intolerance to cold, sore joints, lack of menstrual cycle, constipation, and loss of muscle mass to name a few. While signs of starvation alone may not land an individual in the hospital, it’s an indication that hospitalization may soon be necessary. Other reasons for hospitalization can include:

• Testing and diagnosis is necessary
• Weight loss exceeds 25 percent of total body weight over three months
• Infection of any kind (anorexia can complicate infection)
• Heart rate falling below 40 beats per minute or above 110 beats per minute
• Vomiting of blood
• Severe dehydration
• Abnormally low temperature
• Abnormally low serum potassium levels even after potassium replacements are tried – potassium levels are extremely important to human functions like nerve and muscle activity and a correct level insures that the heart can function as well.
• Anemia

This is the tip of the iceberg. Anorexia can cause deterioration of most of an individual's body functions and result in death which is why proper and timely anorexia treatment is so important. To see all the different ways in which anorexia can wreak havoc on a body visit WomensHealth.gov; this site includes a handy diagram.

Prevent Anorexia Early

You cannot 100 percent prevent any disease from occurring but in the case of eating disorders like anorexia, family interactions can play a huge role in making sure the odds of a young girl developing anorexia are slimmer.

Myths about “cleaning your plate” should be eliminated altogether and children, even from a young age should be allowed to learn how to self-regulate their hunger and the types of foods they eat. There should be a family focus on inner worth, not simply outer beauty, and eating habits of the family as a whole should be balanced and healthy. If you’re the parent of young children, talk to their doctor about how to instill more healthy food-related behaviors into your family’s world. You may stop an eating disorder before it ever occurs.

To learn more and find out about treatment options in the U.S. visit Psych Central's support group page. In the UK visit Beat - an organization fighting eating disorders.