Introduction: In the last few years, a huge social importance is being given to eating disorders and specially to anorexia nervosa. Sometimes, the actual epidemiology doesn't correspond with that voice of alarm.
Material and methodology: In this article are reviewed a sample of 3,849 clinical histories (aged 0 to 16 years) collected in 9 years in a public children and adolescents mental health unit.Objective. To see the incidence of the eating disorders (with their characteristics of sex and age) and the progression of cases of anorexia.
Results: Show that the percentage of eating disorders (including anorexia) compared with the rest of psychopathologies is very low, that the cases of eating disorders have risen in the last 4 years and that the cases of anorexia nervosa haven't risen in the last decade.
Discussion: Given the discrepancy with other authors who found several cases, we look for an interpretation of our data.