Prevalence of Eating Disorders and Its Associated Risk Factors in Students of a Medical College Hospital in South India

Abstract

Background and objectives Eating disorders are some of the most under-researched and difficult to diagnose psychiatric conditions, with a high mortality rate, especially among the adolescent age group. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and risk factors for eating disorders among students of a medical college hospital in South India. Materials and methods An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted among 332 students of four constituent colleges of a tertiary-care hospital selected by simple random sampling. Their height and weight were recorded. Four major questionnaires were distributed among the students-Demographic details, Eating Attitudes Test (EAT26), Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ34), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The results were tabulated and analyzed using SPSS software version 16.0 (IBM Corporation, Somers, New York, USA). Results The proportion of students who had a high risk for eating disorders was 13%. It was prevalent almost equally in both males and females. High risk for eating disorders was associated with high stress and severe body shape concerns (p<0.001). Other influencing factors were history of counselling, peer pressure, excessive exercise as well as the history of any behavioral symptoms like the use of laxatives and diet pills (p<0.001). Conclusions Eating disorder risk is prevalent in a high percentage of medical and paramedical students. High stress and body shape concerns are associated with eating disorders. Only if diagnosed early, with screening programs using questionnaires and further psychiatric evaluation, we can hope to mitigate the complications they incur.

Assessment of psychological distress among undergraduate Al Qadisiyah University Students

“…The studied samples included 380 student from al qadesiyah university. The statistical distribution of study sample by their socio-demographic data, it explains that the highest percentage of the students' subgroup are: students with ages between (18)(19)(20)(21)(22) years old (72.6 %), female students (55.3 %) ; those living in urban areas (75 %), and those who are single (81.1 %), those with roughly sufficient monthly income (41.6 %), those living with (2-8) family member (73.9), those who are studying in pure science specialty was (48.2 %) , those who are studying in science college (18.2).…”

“…Regarding age, the category (18)(19)(20)(21)(22) years recorded the highest GHQ-28 score (MS= 2.33); female student had psychological distress higher than male (2.37 and 2.21 respectively); students with insufficient monthly income showed higher psychological distress (MS=2.40); the humanitarian colleges exhibited the highest psychological distress score (MS=2.36) comparing the other specialties; College of Education for girls recorded the highest psychological distress score (MS=2.52) in comparison to the other colleges included in the study.…”

“…The General health questionnaire scale (GHQ-28 item) was used, which includes four aspects, which are as follows (anxiety domain , depression domain ,social domain, and the somatic domain ), which is a four-sided Likret Scale by ( 8) Arabic version adopted by ( 9) All items of level psychological distress questions has four responses, items No. (1,15,17,18,19,20,21) are as follows (more than usual,. The scoring were 4 points, Rather more than usual 3score ,No more than usual 2 score , Not at all 1 score).…”

Potential Triggers for Risking the Development of Eating Disorders in Non-Clinical Higher-Education Students in Emerging Adulthood

“…The results of the similar positive pre-pandemic ED screenings (from 16% to 33%) can be observed in the student populations in Nigeria [ 56 ], Lebanon [ 57 ], Singapore [ 58 ], Spain [ 59 ], Palestine [ 60 ], Pakistan [ 61 ], Turkey [ 62 ], Bangladesh [ 63 ], Iran [ 64 , 65 ], the United Arab Emirates [ 66 ], and Egypt [ 67 ]. Meanwhile, significantly lower pre-pandemic reports of the prevalence of the ED risk among students ranging from 4.5% to 14.9% were identified in the countries such as Poland [ 68 ], Croatia [ 69 ], the United States [ 70 , 71 ], Puerto Rico [ 72 ], Brazil [ 73 ], China [ 74 , 75 ], Japan [ 76 ], South India [ 29 ], and Malaysia [ 77 ].…”

“…Due to a lack of awareness or a lack of a sufficiently defined method for diagnosing ED, from 50% to 80% of all cases go undetected or are not correctly diagnosed. As a result, the majority of ED patients do not have access to evidence-based effective treatments [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Early diagnosis using questionnaires for ED screening is highly recommended [ 33 , 34 ].…”