Eating disorders, which include anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating disorder and overconsumption, are characterised by irregular eating habits and severe distress or concern about body weight or shape.
"Stereotypes about who develops eating disorders could contribute to disparities in diagnosis and treatment, with males of higher weight, people of colour, and the non-affluent most likely to be slipping through the cracks," said Kendrin Sonneville, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan in the US.
The study, conducted on college students, found that females were almost 1.5 times more likely to get treated than males, and affluent students were nearly two times more likely to get treatment compared to non-affluent.
White students were nearly two times more likely to get diagnosed than students of colour, and underweight students were more than six times more likely to get diagnosed than those with a health body weight.
Students with overweight or obesity were about half as likely to get diagnosed.
"Most people with an eating disorder never get diagnosed and never get treatment, even though successful treatments that can reduce suffering, health consequences and cost are available," Sonneville said.
"Many individuals with eating disorders do not recognise themselves in these stereotyped portrayals of eating disorders in the media and may not recognise the need for treatment," Sonneville added.
For the study, published in the journal International Journal of Eating Disorders, 1,700 college graduates were analysed.
The results showed that anorexia was much more likely to get diagnosed (73 per cent) compared to individuals with binge eating disorder (seven per cent).
Sonneville said universal screening and prevention, led by clinicians, could help reduce these disparities.
Miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy and affects an estimated one in four pregnancies.
Although guidelines recommend trying to resolve an unsuccessful pregnancy naturally, the new analysis shows that this is only successful in 70 per cent of cases, and potentially comes with complications that are rarely communicated to patients.
The study from the University of Warwick and Queen Mary University of London, demonstrates little to no difference in medical effectiveness in resolving an unsuccessful pregnancy between medical and surgical options.
Thus, the team recommend the doctors to offer women a choice of treatment options for miscarriage to enable them to make an informed decision that takes account of potential uncomfortable side effects, long waiting times and extended periods of recovery.
"What we have to do is provide women with evidence about the benefits and effectiveness of each treatment option and potential side effects so that they can choose what they feel most comfortable with," said lead author Bassel Wattar from Warwick Medical School.
"Some women are more keen on having a quick surgical intervention so that they can resume their lifestyle immediately, some are very keen to avoid surgery and prefer to go with a tablet, and others want to take a more natural approach," Wattar added.
For the results, published in the journal Human Reproduction Update, the team reviewed 46 trials involving over 9,000 women who experienced spontaneous loss of pregnancy (miscarriage) before 14 weeks gestation.
During a miscarriage, the body will aim to resolve the unsuccessful pregnancy naturally but conservative treatment can be painful with increased bleeding, increased likelihood of hospital admission, reduced quality of treatment and reduced satisfaction.
However, surgery which include electric vacuum aspiration, and medical treatment with a tablet were found to have similar effectiveness in treating miscarriage as conservative treatment.