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Link Seen Between Anxiety, Eating Disorders

Researchers find children who suffer anxiety are more prone to develop eating disorders later in life. The study in the December issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry compared some 700 women suffering from eating disorders to women who didn't.

Psychiatrist Walter H. Kaye, M.D., and an international team of researchers found that women with eating disorders were twice as likely to have suffered anxiety as children. The most common disorder was obsessive-compulsive disorder, present in almost half of the group. NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports.

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Award-winning journalist Patti Neighmond is NPR's health policy correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.