【Objectives】 This study was corducted to reveal the reality of eating disorders in high school students in Aichi Prefecture through epidemiological survey and questionnaire survey on efforts of yogo-teachers.
【Methods】 We sent a questionnaire for Yogo-teachers to the school principal and yogo-teachers in all full-time public and private schools, including girls’ schools, boys’ schools and coeducational schools, in Aichi and requested to fill the questionnaires containing items on the background of each school, the numbers of students and patients with eating disorders in each grade as of January 2013, the number of medical institution consultations, death cases, as well as questions requiring written answers related to measures for prevention and early detection of eating disorders and problems regarding eating disorders.
【Results】 Responses were obtained from 109 of 162 public high schools, 37 of 57 private high schools. The valid response rate was 66.7%. The total number of girls in the first, second and third grades in public/private high schools was 14,851/6,280, 14,058/5,931 and 14,049/5,681, respectively.
The prevalence rate of suspected anorexia nervosa cases in the first, second and third grades was 118,155 and 101 per 100,000 girl students, respectively. The prevalence rate of anorexia nervosa of high school girls in public high schools was significantly high as compared with private high schools.
When the prevalence rate was compared among three high school groups classified based on the entrance exam difficulty, the prevalence rate of eating disorders in high group is significantly more, but low group has become significantly less result.
In addition, the prevalence rate of eating disorders including suspected cases in high school in Nagoya city was higher than outside of city area.
【Conclusion】 In the epidemiological survey for high school girl students in Aichi Prefecture, we found that the frequency of anorexia nervosa patients among high school students was 101-155 per 100,000. The survey results on correspondence by yogo-teachers renewed our awareness of importance of measures against eating disorders in school health care.
