Eating Disorder Prevalence Analysis

Welcome to my data analysis project exploring trends in eating disorder prevalence from 1990 to 2021. This page features a series of visualizations that examine how rates of eating disorders have changed over time, with a focus on gender differences and long-term patterns.

Using global health data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), I analyzed and visualized key metrics to highlight disparities between males and females, as well as changes in prevalence over three decades. These insights help shed light on the evolving public health challenge of eating disorders and provide a foundation for more targeted awareness and intervention strategies.

Key Insights

• Between 1990 and 2021, eating disorder prevalence declined slightly in both males and females, with the highest rates consistently seen among females.

• Female prevalence decreased from approximately 0.73% in 1990 to 0.60% in 2021, while male prevalence dropped from 0.32% to 0.27% over the same period.

• The peak in average prevalence occurred around 2010, suggesting a shift in awareness, diagnosis, or treatment access in recent years.

• Gender disparities remain significant, with females experiencing eating disorders at more than twice the rate of males, on average.

• These insights can help inform gender-targeted public health strategies and resource planning within mental health services.

Dataset Overview: Eating Disorder Prevalence (United States, 1990)

This preview displays the structure and content of the dataset being analyzed. The data comes from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study and focuses on eating disorder prevalence in the United States in the year 1990. Each row includes information on:

• Sex (Male/Female)

• Age group (in this case, “All ages”)

• Metric type (e.g., Number, Percent, Rate)

• Prevalence values (val) and 95% confidence intervals (upper, lower)

What it tells us:
This dataset provides a quantitative foundation for understanding how eating disorders affected the U.S. population in 1990. It allows us to explore not only the raw number of cases but also the percentage of the population affected and the level of confidence in these estimates. These figures will be used throughout the analysis to identify trends over time and across genders.

Eating Disorder Prevalence (%), 1990–2021

This line chart illustrates the trend in eating disorder prevalence among males and females in the United States from 1990 to 2021. The vertical axis represents the percentage of the population affected, while the horizontal axis spans the years of the study.

What it tells us:

• Eating disorder prevalence has consistently been higher in females than males throughout the entire timeframe.

• While the rates have declined slightly for both genders over time, females have shown a more noticeable decrease starting around 2010.

• The gender gap in prevalence remains substantial, emphasizing the need for gender-specific prevention and intervention strategies.

This visualization helps track long-term trends and assess progress in addressing eating disorders across different populations.

Eating Disorder Prevalence (%), 1990–2021 with 95% Confidence Intervals

This graph displays the estimated prevalence of eating disorders in the United States from 1990 to 2021, broken down by gender. It includes shaded confidence intervals to indicate the statistical uncertainty surrounding each estimate.

What it tells us:

• Females have consistently shown a higher prevalence of eating disorders compared to males throughout the entire period.

• The shaded regions (95% confidence intervals) reflect the uncertainty range in the data—wider bands indicate less precision, while narrower bands suggest more certainty.

• While prevalence in both groups shows a gradual decline over time, the reduction is more noticeable among females.

• Importantly, even with overlapping confidence intervals in some years, the gender difference in prevalence remains statistically meaningful.

This chart enhances the reliability of the findings by showing not only the average trend but also the range within which the actual values are likely to fall.

Grouped Mean Prevalence of Eating Disorders by Year and Gender

This table shows the average number of eating disorder cases (not percentages) in the United States from 1990 to 2021, grouped by year and gender. The values represent the mean number of cases for females and males across all data points collected for each year.

What it tells us:

• Across all years, the average number of cases is consistently higher for females than males, highlighting a persistent gender disparity in eating disorder prevalence.

• Both male and female case numbers generally trend upward over time, suggesting either an increase in actual cases, improved reporting, population growth, or some combination of these factors.

• The largest jumps for both genders occurred in the early 2000s through the mid-2010s, with a slight leveling off in recent years.

This aggregated view helps provide a clearer picture of long-term trends and gender differences in the raw counts of eating disorder cases over time.

Eating Disorder Prevalence by Gender (2021)

This bar chart compares the percentage of the population affected by eating disorders in 2021, broken down by gender.

What it tells us:

• In 2021, females had a significantly higher prevalence of eating disorders compared to males.

• The prevalence among females is over double that of males, highlighting a persistent gender disparity.

• While eating disorders can affect individuals of any gender, this visualization emphasizes the disproportionate impact on females in the most recent year of data available.

This snapshot from 2021 offers a clear and immediate view of gender differences in eating disorder prevalence, presented in percentage-based values for enhanced interpretability.

Eating Disorder Prevalence by Gender: 1990 vs 2021

This grouped bar chart compares the prevalence of eating disorders between males and females across two time points: 1990 and 2021.

What it tells us:

• In both years, females consistently show higher rates of eating disorder prevalence than males.

• From 1990 to 2021, there was a modest decrease in prevalence for both genders.

  • Female prevalence dropped from around 0.0073% to just under 0.006%.

  • Male prevalence dropped slightly from around 0.0032% to about 0.0026%.

• The gender gap persists, though the overall percentages are relatively low in both cases.

This visualization helps contextualize how gender-based disparities in eating disorder rates have remained stable over the last three decades, even as overall prevalence slightly declined.

Eating Disorder Prevalence by Gender: 1990 vs 2021

This grouped bar chart compares the prevalence of eating disorders between males and females across two time points: 1990 and 2021.

What it tells us:

• In both years, females consistently show higher rates of eating disorder prevalence than males.

• From 1990 to 2021, there was a modest decrease in prevalence for both genders.

  • Female prevalence dropped from around 0.0073% to just under 0.006%.

  • Male prevalence dropped slightly from around 0.0032% to about 0.0026%.

• The gender gap persists, though the overall percentages are relatively low in both cases.

This visualization helps contextualize how gender-based disparities in eating disorder rates have remained stable over the last three decades, even as overall prevalence slightly declined.

Average Eating Disorder Prevalence by Year and Gender (SQL Output)

This SQL query output provides the average prevalence of eating disorders from 1990 to 2021, broken down by gender and year. It was generated using a GROUP BY and AVG(val) aggregation on the eating_disorder_data table, where the metric was labeled as a percentage.

What it tells us:

• Females consistently have a higher average prevalence of eating disorders each year compared to males.

• In 1990, the average prevalence was:

  • Female: ~0.0073

  • Male: ~0.0031

• By 2021, these numbers declined slightly to:

  • Female: ~0.0060

  • Male: ~0.0026

• While prevalence has generally declined for both genders, the gap has remained steady over the decades.

• This raw table is foundational and was likely used to create line plots and bar charts in your visual analysis.

It reinforces earlier visual findings and shows consistency across data sources (Python and PostgreSQL), enhancing credibility.

Average Eating Disorder Prevalence Over Time (1990–2021)

This line graph displays the average prevalence of eating disorders (based on raw values) across all demographic groups from 1990 to 2021.

Key Observations:

• Steady Increase (1990–2010): A consistent upward trend is observed from 1990 to approximately 2010, indicating a growing number of reported or diagnosed cases during this period.

• Sharp Decline (2011–2015): A notable decline is observed between 2011 and 2015. This could reflect changes in data reporting, treatment access, diagnostic criteria, or public health efforts.

• Slight Rebound (2016–2020): Following the decline, the average prevalence increases modestly before leveling off around 2021.

What It Suggests:

• This graph helps identify overall trends by combining data from both sexes and age groups.

• While it lacks gender-specific insight, it is valuable for policy or public health overviews and for comparison with targeted analyses (such as gender-based comparisons).

Eating Disorder Prevalence Analysis (1990–2021)

By Richie Phillips

Introduction

Eating disorders are severe mental health conditions that affect individuals across all demographics, but trends indicate that prevalence rates differ significantly by gender and have evolved. This analysis explores historical data from 1990 to 2021 to examine how eating disorder prevalence has changed, highlighting disparities between male and female populations. The project features a range of statistical visualizations, including time series line graphs, bar plots, and confidence interval charts. The insights gained can be used to understand gendered experiences of disordered eating better and to guide further research, clinical interventions, and public health strategies.

Longitudinal Trends: 1990–2021

Prevalence Over Time with Labels

The labeled time series chart titled “Eating Disorder Prevalence (%), 1990–2021 with Labels” displays gender-specific trends in prevalence over three decades. In 1990, the average prevalence was approximately 0.0073 (0.73%) for females and 0.0032 (0.32%) for males. By 2021, prevalence declined for both genders, reaching 0.0060 (0.60%) for females and 0.0027 (0.27%) for males.

This decline suggests a reduction in reported or diagnosed cases over time. However, females consistently showed a higher prevalence than males throughout the entire period. The gap remains significant, reflecting persistent gender-based disparities in either the experience of eating disorders, reporting behavior, or diagnostic recognition.

Confidence Intervals and Gender Disparity

95% Confidence Interval Chart (1990–2021)

The graph showing prevalence rates with 95% confidence intervals illustrates the reliability of estimates over time. The red zone representing females has a broader range, indicating greater variation in female data, while the blue zone for males remains narrower. The consistent separation between the confidence intervals of both genders reaffirms that the gender gap is statistically meaningful, not a result of random variation.

Notably, while both groups show a gradual downward trend, female prevalence begins at a much higher baseline and decreases more slowly than male prevalence. This visual adds depth by emphasizing that the gender gap is not only persistent but also statistically robust.

Gender Breakdown and Year-to-Year Comparisons

Bar Plot (2021 Only)

The 2021 bar chart clearly shows a stark gender disparity, with females having more than double the prevalence rate of males. This snapshot highlights that even in the most recent year of data, eating disorders disproportionately impact females.

Bar Plot Comparison (1990 vs 2021)

By comparing 1990 and 2021, we observe that the prevalence has decreased for both genders; however, the gap remains. In 1990, the male prevalence was approximately 0.0032, and the female prevalence was 0.0073. In 2021, these figures dropped to 0.0027 and 0.0060, respectively. This drop could reflect improvements in awareness, treatment, or changes in diagnostic practices, although further analysis would be needed to identify the cause.

SQL Query Results and Aggregated Averages

The SQL query output confirms and supports the trends observed in the charts. Average prevalence values, grouped by gender and year, show a similar general pattern: a peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s, followed by a steady decline into the 2010s. The consistency between SQL results and Python-generated visualizations adds confidence in the data’s integrity.

Overall Trendline: Average Across All Genders

Final Trend Graph

The final graph displays the overall average prevalence of eating disorders over time without separating by gender. This aggregate view shows a steady rise from 1990 to approximately 2010, peaking at around 478,000 reported cases (based on aggregate values), followed by a significant decline between 2011 and 2015. A mild rebound appears in the late 2010s, stabilizing around 2020–2021.

While this trend is valuable for gauging national or global attention on the issue, it masks critical gender-specific differences. Thus, while helpful, this graph should always be interpreted in conjunction with gender-specific data.

Conclusion

This analysis reveals several significant findings:

• Gender remains a significant factor in eating disorder prevalence. Females experience eating disorders at a much higher rate than males.

• Prevalence has declined since the 1990s for both genders, but the gender gap persists.

• Confidence intervals confirm the statistical significance of the observed trends.

• Data from multiple sources (SQL and Python visualizations) confirms the consistency of the findings.

Understanding these patterns is crucial for clinicians, educators, and policymakers working to develop gender-informed strategies for prevention, early detection, and treatment. Future research could investigate the contributing factors to these trends, such as the influence of media, diagnostic changes, stigma, or improvements in mental health literacy.