A marriage and family therapist, Dr. Micki Kloss treated children of varying ages while operating her Arizona private practice. Among her accomplishments, Dr. Micki Kloss was one of the first Arizona professionals to earn a credential from the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (IAEDP).
According to a study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Appetite, early identification of eating disorders plays a key role in the potential for recovery. Researchers from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom followed a cohort of children who completed questionnaires at ages 7, 9, and 12 years. Questions addressed body dissatisfaction, depressive emotions, and eating disorder symptoms.
The team found that when children showed a higher incidence of eating disorder symptoms at age 9, they were more likely to have increased symptomatology at the age of 12. Heightened levels of body dissatisfaction correlated with increased risk potential for eating disorder diagnoses for both genders, while depressive symptoms at age 12 had the same result in girls.
The key factor in this study has been its examination of risk factors and early symptoms across ages, as most previous studies had evaluated patients at a single point in time. The impact of this longer-term focus is crucial, as eating disorder prevalence increases from just 1.64 per 100,000 at age 9 to 9.51 in 100,000 at age 12 and continues to rise through the early teen years. Continuation of this study will present the same questionnaire to the original cohort at age 15, notable as the most common age for eating disorder hospitalization.
