Health care analysis of eating disorders in Valladolid

Abstract

One of the aims of epidemiological research is to provide some information that makes it possible to adapt and structure health care services. There is an open debate on the need and/or adequacy of the specific units for care given to eating behavior disorders (EBD) and a proper health care model. One way to contribute some ideas in this debate is to make a critical analysis of the reality of the care given for eating behavior disorders, observing the activity of the different health care levels, in our case in the province of Valladolid. The existence of several epidemiological studies, coinciding in space and time, makes it possible to conclude that 23% of new cases treated in the Community are detected in primary health care, while the percentage of those seen by the child-adolescent psychiatry departments is reduced to 2.56%, 16% of which are referred from hospital admission. The regional proposal of promoting a reference hospital admission unit for eating behavior disorders for all of the region of Castilla y Leon is considered ineffective according to this reality, the creation of specific functional units being proposed.