Hooked on weight control: An economic theory of anorexia nervosa and its impact on health and longevity

In this paper, I integrate a theory of body image, weight control, and addiction in a life cycle model with health deficit accumulation in order to explain the phenomenon of anorexia nervosa and its impact on health and longevity. Individuals consume normal goods and foods and can work off excess calories with physical exercise. There exists a healthy body mass index and deviations from it increasingly cause health deficits due to obesity or underweight. There exists also a subjective target weight and being heavier than target weight causes a loss of utility from body image. Anorexia is initiated in individuals who are particularly successful in weight control and prone to addiction. Addiction to weight control motivates anorexic individuals to perpetually adjust their target weight downwards and to eat less and exercise more. With declining weight, health deficits accumulate faster and mortality risk rises. I calibrate the model to an average American woman with bmi 28. Due to weight loss addiction, the bmi declines to a level of 15 and causes an expected loss of 15 years of life. I also discuss potential therapies and recovery from the disease.     

2013年中国25岁及以上人群高血糖归因死亡对期望寿命的影响

目的 分析2013年中国≥ 25岁人群高血糖归因死亡和期望寿命损失情况。方法 用2013年中国居民死因监测及中国慢性病及其危险因素监测数据,采用人群归因分值估计高血糖危险因素造成的死亡和对期望寿命的影响。结果 2013年中国≥ 25岁人群归因于高血糖的总死亡人数为62.1万,其中男性33.3万,女性28.8万。高血糖造成的相关疾病死亡人数以缺血性心脏病为最多,约21.2万,其次为脑血管病,约18.1万,其余依次为糖尿病（14.5万）、慢性肾病（5.2万）和结核病（3.1万）。去除高血糖危险因素后,2013年中国居民期望寿命可达到76.5岁,较全死因期望寿命平均提高0.7岁。其中,男性提高0.7岁,女性提高0.8岁。结论 高血糖是影响中国居民死亡和期望寿命的重要危险因素之一。应加强高血糖及相关疾病的预防控制。