Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder. It was considered as a possible impact of sexual abuse (cf. Browne & Finkelhor 1986). Herzog et al. 1993 have found high prevalence of sexual abuse among subjects with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
But Tobin & Griffing 1996 found that frequency of abuse among patients with eating disorders was strikingly different across diagnostic subgroups. Abuse was lowest in compulsive overeaters (12%) and highest in patients who engaged in compensatory behaviors but did not binge or meet criteria for anorexia (75%). A similar "indication that childhood sexual abuse is more strongly associated with bulimic disorders than restricting anorexia" was found by Wonderlich 1997.
Richter-Appelt 1994 has considered sexual and physical abuse and found the following rates:
| Problems | sex.+phys. | sex.only | phys.only | none |
| N=41 | N=27 | N=99 | N=208 | |
| Bulimia nervosa | 23% | 4% | 10% | 3% |
| Adipositas | 25% | 9% | 8% | 6% |
| Anorexia nervosa | 17% | 4% | 14% | 8% |
Thus, there is no evidence for a causal relation between sexual abuse and anorexia nervosa.