Anorexia affects from 0.5 to 1 percent of the female adolescent
population, with an average age of onset between 14 and 18
years. An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of females suffer from
anorexia nervosa in their lifetime. An estimated 5 to 15 percent
of people with anorexia are male. However, recent studies have
shown that the rates are increasing among males. The mortality
rate among people with anorexia has been estimated at 0.56
percent per year, or approximately 5.6 percent per decade, which
is about 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all
causes of death among females ages 15 to 24 in the general
population. The most common causes of death are complications of
anorexia, such as cardiac arrest or electrolyte imbalance, and
suicide.