Sudden death from anorexia has been linked to cardiac arrhythmia, acute circulatory failure, and a great variety of alterations in chemical factors in the body. Eating disorders are common among young women students, as well as among dancers, athletes, and entertainers. The problem appears to be severe for between 0.5 to 1.0 percent of female students. Excessive dieting and the use of vomiting after eating high-calorie foods are reported by up to 10 percent of college students, although estimates of the number who meet the diagnostic criteria is closer to 1 to 3 percent. Eating disorders are also seen in men, but much less commonly.
Many psychologists look at eating disorders from a diathesis-stress perspective.
This view, which identifies some people as particularly vulnerable, helps psychologists analyze which situations make this vulnerability important and which factors make eating disorders difficult to treat. For example, although female ballet dancers have a high incidence of eating disorders estimated at from 10 to 20 percent, clearly many dancers subjected to the same pressures do not. An obsessive-compulsive personality style may be a factor. Perfectionism, a possible offshoot of compulsivity, is a personality characteristic that can make an individual vulnerable to eating disorders. Like all vulnerability factors, however, perfectionism is not likely to have negative effects except in stressful situations.