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The economic burden and health service use of eating disorders have received little attention, although such data are necessary to estimate the implications of any changes in clinical practice for patient care and health care resource requirements. This systematic review reports the current international evidence on the resource use and cost of eating disorders.

Relevant literature (1980–2002) was identified from searches of electronic databases and expert contacts.

Two cost-of-illness studies from the UK and Germany, one burden-of-disease study from Australia and 14 other publications with relevant data from the UK, USA, Austria, Denmark and The Netherlands could be identified. In the UK, the health care cost of anorexia nervosa was estimated to be £4·2 million in 1990. In Germany, the health care cost was €65 million for anorexia nervosa and €10 million for bulimia nervosa during …