What relationship between eating disorders and alexithymia among medical students?

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S557-S557
Author(s):  
N. Messedi ◽  
I. Feki ◽  
R. Masmoudi ◽  
B.N. Saguem ◽  
J. Masmoudi

IntroductionThe student population seems to be vulnerable to eating disorders (ED) but is this in relation to their ability to express their emotions or alexithymia?ObjectivesStudying the prevalence of ED and alexithymia among medical students, and establish the relationship between these entities.MethodsIt was a cross-sectional study of 97 students in Sfax University Medicine (Tunisia). We used:– a questionnaire containing demographic and clinical data;– Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26): a score ≥ 20 indicates ED;– Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20): a score ≥ 61 indicates alexithymia.ResultsThe average age of participants was 24.07 years (± 2.71); the sex ratio (M/W) was 0.4. Their average BMI was 22.85 kg/m2 (± 3.36). They were smoking in 36.1% and sedentary in 43.3% of case. They had a nibbling activity in 57.7%. The average score of the EAT-26 was 11.66 ± 8.66 and prevalence of TCA was 19.6%. The average score of TAS-20 was 50.92, 0.46 and alexithymia was found in 16.5% of students. ED was significantly correlated with nibbling (P = 0.02), BMI or overweight (P = 0.012), smoking (P = 0.006) and physical inactivity (P < 0.00). Also alexithymia was significantly correlated with smoking (P = 0.003) and physical inactivity (P = 0.025). A significant correlation was found between alexithymia and ED (P = 0.008).ConclusionIt is clear from our study an association between alexithymia and the ED. Psychological support aimed specifically alexithymic dimension is indispensable, not only for decreasing the emergence of ED but also contributing to lower any addictive behavior.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Alejandro Martínez-Rodríguez ◽  
Manuel Vicente-Martínez ◽  
Javier Sánchez-Sánchez ◽  
Laura Miralles-Amorós ◽  
María Martínez-Olcina ◽  
...  

(1) Background: The preoccupation with the increasing appearance of eating disorders (ED) in athletes continues to grow, especially in athletes who practice team sports. ED severely affects the eating habits of the athletes, who tend to use unhealthy approaches to control their body weight. The development of nutritional education and early interventions by training staff is essential, and these factors are widely perceived as beneficial in sports medicine. This study evaluates the frequency at which beach handball (BH) players develop ED, also comparing the differences by sex and age (junior: adolescents vs. senior: young adults). In addition, the relation between body composition variables and ED was studied. (2) Methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in 69 top elite handball players (36 males and 33 females) from the Spanish National BH Team; who were separated by age (junior: adolescents and senior: young adults). The athletes completed the Eating Attitudes Test in its 26 item version (EAT-26). (3) Results: The prevalence of ED indicated that 11% of females had a high possibility of developing an ED, and 3% of males. Regarding the EAT-26 total score and subscales, no significant differences were found between female and male participants, or between the junior and senior categories. The correlations showed an association between body composition, in terms of body mass index, and the EAT-26 total score in both males and females. In the case of males, the correlation was negative. (4) Conclusions: Although there are no significant differences between sex or categories, it has been found that elite athletes are a population that is at high risk of developing ED.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-84
Author(s):  
Aqeel Aslam ◽  
Ushna Laraib ◽  
Iqra Afzal ◽  
Shingraf Zaib ◽  
Asma Riaz ◽  
...  

The prevalence of eating disorders among University students has been on rise throughout the world. The present descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of eating disorders among the female students of pharmacy department at University of Sargodha, Pakistan using well established EAT-26 questionnaire. The study included 177 female undergraduate pharmacy students from all five years of Pharm D. An EAT-26 score over 20 was indicator of disturbed eating behavior. Out of the total 177 students who participated the study, 47 (26.6%) students had disturbed eating behavior. The mean EAT-26 score was 14.7. According to BMI calculations, 31.64% of total individuals were underweight, 59.32% normal, 6.78% overweight and 2.26% belonged to obese category. The prevalence of eating disorders was found to be much higher than the studies conducted at developed countries. There is an urgent need of an effort to increase awareness of such disorders among students and general public. Conduction of such study at other institutes and at larger scale is recommended.


2016 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
pp. 501-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Angélica Kurpel Diogo ◽  
Gabriel Gomes de Oliveira Ribas ◽  
Thelma Larocca Skare

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: The pursuit of perfection can cause anxiety and lead dancers to exceed their physical limits. The aim here was to evaluate the prevalence of pain symptoms and eating disorders among professional and amateur dancers. DESIGN AND SETTING: Observational cross-sectional study; Curitiba, PR, Brazil. METHODS: Data on 150 professional and non-professional practitioners of ballet, jazz and street dance were collected through specific questionnaires: Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), Bulimic Investigatory Test Edinburgh (BITE) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-T-6 (STAI-T-6). RESULTS: Pain was observed in 58.6% of the sample, equally between professionals and amateurs (P = 0.19). Ballet dancers had more lower-limb pain than the other groups (P = 0.05). EAT-26 showed a tendency towards more eating disorders among the amateurs (P = 0.06). Higher risk of eating disorders was found among ballet dancers (P = 0.004) and jazz practitioners (P = 0.02) than among street dancers. Amateurs had more symptoms on the BITE scale (P < 0.0001), more pain (P = 0.002) and higher anxiety (P < 0.0001). Eating disorders were more common among females (P = 0.01) and singles (P = 0.02). Professionals were more satisfied with their own body image than amateurs (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Pain symptoms were found in almost half of the sample, equally among professionals and amateurs as well as between the three dance styles. Female and singles had more eating disorders. Those with eating disorders had higher levels of pain and anxiety.


2009 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lúcia Magalhães Bosi ◽  
Kátia Yumi Uchimura ◽  
Ronir Raggio Luiz

OBJECTIVE: To characterize eating habits and possible risk factors associated with eating disorders among psychology students, a segment at risk for eating disorders. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study. The questionnaires Bulimic Investigatory Test Edinburgh (BITE), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and a variety that considers related issues were applied. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 11.0 was utilized in analysis. The study population was composed of 175 female students, with a mean age of 21.2 (DP ± 3.6 years). RESULTS: A positive result was detected on the EAT-26 for 6.9% of the cases (CI95%: 3.6-11.7%). The prevalence of increased symptoms and intense gravity, according to the BITE questionnaire was 5% (CI95%: 2.4-9.5%) and 2.5% (CI95%: 0.7-6.3%), respectively. According to the findings, 26.29% of the students presented abnormal eating behavior. The population with moderate/severe BSQ scores presented dissatisfaction with corporal weight. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that attention must be given to eating behavior risks within this group. A differentiated gaze is justified with respect to these future professionals, whose practice is jeopardized in cases in which they are themselves the bearers of installed symptoms or precursory behavior.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 114-119
Author(s):  
Nastaran Miri ◽  
Mostafa Noroozi ◽  
Rosa Zavoshy ◽  
Neda Ezzeddin

Background and aims: Body image is defined as a complex concept involving a person’s thoughts, feelings, and attitudes about his/her body. The body image dissatisfaction may expose the individuals, specifically athletes, to eating disorders (EDs). The aim of this study is to assess the association of body image score with EDs and anthropometric measures in students from university sports teams. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 225 students from sports teams of Qazvin University in 2014. The samples were selected by the census method. The Multidimensional BodySelf Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), eating attitudes test (EAT-26) questionnaire, and demographic information questionnaire were used for collecting data. Anthropometric characteristics were also measured. The data were analyzed in SPSS software version 22.0. Results: The result of the study showed that the association of body image score with age (P=0.012, OR=0.80, CI=0.179, 1.437) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) (P=0.013, OR=-52.14, CI=-93.20, -11.08) was positively significant. Although the mean body image score was lower in students with EDs, it was not statistically significant. In addition, there was not a significant association between body image score and other variables such as marital status, gender, educational level, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and hip circumference (HC) (P>0.05). Conclusion: In this study, the body image had a positive significant association with age, and a negative significant one with WHtR. This may indicate that abdominal obesity plays an important role in body image satisfaction among students from the university sports teams.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Khosravi

Abstract Background: Common comorbidity and the shared psychopathology in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and feeding and eating disorder (FED) resulted in conceptualization of the relationship theory between disordered eating behaviors (DEB), alexithymia, depression, and anxiety. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the FED prevalence in patients with BPD and evaluating the relationship between DEB, alexithymia, anxiety, and depression.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed from August 2018 to November 2019; 110 patients with BPD and 110 healthy people were studied in this research. The participants were selected by systematic random sampling out of the patients referring to Baharan psychiatric hospital in Zahedan, Iran, with the sampling interval of 3. The subjects were evaluated by demographic data form, the 26-item eating attitudes test (EAT-26), 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20), Beck anxiety disorder (BAI), and Beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II).Results: The results show a 65.4% (n = 72) prevalence of FED in borderline patients; the highest and lowest prevalence rates are reported for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and bulimia nervosa, respectively. The highest mean score of TAS-20 is reported in anorexia nervosa. The regression analysis results show that anxiety and depression play a mediating role in the relationship between alexithymia and DEB.Conclusions: The results suggest that alexithymia should be paid clinical attention as a trait and distress-independent construct in the BPD and FED comorbidity.


Author(s):  
Eleanor Money-Taylor ◽  
Nick Dobbin ◽  
Rebecca Gregg ◽  
Joseph J. Matthews ◽  
Ozcan Esen

Abstract Background Female athletes participating in sports emphasising aesthetics are potentially more prone to developing disordered eating (DE) and eating disorders (EDs) than non-athletes, males, and those participating in sports with less emphasis on leanness. Despite this, female bodybuilding athletes have received little attention. Aim To investigate differences in eating attitudes, behaviours and beliefs in female bodybuilding athletes and a non-athlete group. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used with the eating attitude test-26 (EAT-26) distributed to 75 women (49.3% bodybuilding athletes; 50.7% non-athletes) and the female athlete screening tool (FAST) distributed to the female bodybuilding group only. Results Demographic characteristics revealed no significant difference in age, stature or body mass index (P = 0.106 to 0.173), though differences in body mass were evident (P = 0.0001 to 0.042). Bodybuilding athletes scored significantly higher (P = 0.001) than non-athletes on the EAT-26 questionnaire, with significantly more athletes (56.8%) being labelled as ‘at risk’ of an ED than non-athletes (23.7%, P = 0.001). Responses to the FAST questionnaire indicated female bodybuilding athletes have high preoccupation with their body mass; engage in exercise to alter their body mass; and disclosed negative perceptions of themselves. Conclusion In all, female bodybuilding athletes demonstrate behaviours associated with DE and EDs as well as a preoccupation with nutrition intake, exercise, and strategies to alter their appearance. These findings have important implications for those managing female bodybuilding athletes such as strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, nutritionist and dietitians with respect to detecting DE and EDs as well as minimising the risk factors.


Author(s):  
Marta Kożybska ◽  
Iwona Radlińska ◽  
Aleksandra Czerw ◽  
Grażyna Dykowska ◽  
Beata Karakiewicz

The aims of this cross-sectional study were: (i) to establish the prevalence of problematic Internet use (PIU) and eating disorders (EDs) among Polish students; (ii) to investigate potential correlations between the two phenomena; and (iii) to identify predictors of eating disorders among socio-demographic and Internet use characteristics in this population. To this end, a total of 1008 Polish students aged 18–40, completed the Problematic Internet Use Test (TPIU22), the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and a self-designed Socio-demographic and Internet Use Survey. Men received more PIU scores (p < 0.001), while women received more EAT-26 scores (p < 0.05) with a significant correlation observed between those variables (rho = 0.212; p < 0.001). The strongest predictors of EDs were as follows: preoccupation with the Internet, neglect of sleep in favor of Internet use, alleviation of negative feelings while online, higher mean number of hours spent online on weekends for academic and work-related purposes, extracurricular activity, lower height and higher BMI. An association has been demonstrated between problematic internet use and eating disorders. Somewhat surprisingly, our results suggest that people at risk of EDs use the Internet primarily to fulfill their routine duties. Nevertheless, further research is needed to establish the causality of EDs and PIU.


Author(s):  
Dinda Carissa ◽  
Yunia Hastami ◽  
Eti Poncorini Pamungkasari

Background: The reading interest rate of Indonesian society is relatively low (approximately 0,001). Meanwhile, during their study, medical students have to read numerous English literatures. Previous research showed that reading activity can be improved by reading motivation. However, studies about Indonesian medical students reading motivation on English literature are still limited. This study aims to assess the effect of students’ English literature reading motivation to the block exam average score.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in January 2018. We used stratified random sampling, and we found 274 samples that fit with inclusion and exclusion criterias selected. The motivation was assessed using the English literature reading motivation scale, block exam test results were obtained through the academic database. Data were analyzed with multiple linier regression test.Result: Students’ English reading motivation increased the block exam average score of Medical Students. Every increase of one score of motivation significantly increase 0,10 score block exam average (p<0,001). Furthermore, every increase of one year of study can significantly increase 3,53 of block exam average score (p<0,001); R2=18,3 %. English literature reading motivation of medical students UNS is in middle category.Conclusion: English literature reading motivation increase the block exam average score of Medical Students in UNS.


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