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Eating disorders

Prevalence and risk profile among secondary school students

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Abstract

Background

Eating disorders (EDs) are an important public health problem in developed countries. Despite the amount of epidemiological studies and causal theories, there is a great disparity of estimates and many questions remain still unclear. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of the population at risk of developing EDs and describe the risk profiles among adolescents and young people.

Methods

A transversal design using a two-stage cluster sample of secondary education students aged between 12 and 18 years was used. The survey consisted of a socio-demographic questionnaire along with the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT)-40 index and was carried out between May and June 1999.

Results

Results showed that 7.8% of the secondary school population had a high risk of developing eating disorders (EAT-40 higher than 30). Females presented a higher percentage [12.3%; 95% confidence limits (CL) 10.4–14.3%] than males (3.2%; 95% CL 2.1–4.2%) at the highest risk levels. A decreasing risk gradient was observed with age.

Conclusions

The estimates show an important difference between the risk in females and in males and suggests that the risk is incremented above all in the last few years of infancy and the first years of adolescence, when these boys and girls are more vulnerable to socio-cultural influences and do not yet have defined image and “behaviour models”.

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Acknowledgements

To Martin Hemmings, B.A M.A, for the English translation and precise comments to the text.

To the personnel of the Castilla y León Mental Health Teams, for their inappreciable collaboration in the field work.

This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Council for Health and Social Welfare, Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain

    Agustín Tomás Vega Alonso MD, MPH, PhD, María Ángeles Rasillo Rodríguez, José Eugenio Lozano Alonso & Manuel Franco Martín

  2. Dirección General de Salud Pública y Consumo, Consejería de Sanidad, Paseo de Zorilla, 1, 47071, Valladolid, Spain

    Agustín Tomás Vega Alonso MD, MPH, PhD

  3. Universitary Hospital of Valladolid, Service of Psychiatry, Valladolid, Spain

    Gloria Rodríguez Carretero

Authors
  1. Agustín Tomás Vega Alonso MD, MPH, PhD
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  2. María Ángeles Rasillo Rodríguez
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  3. José Eugenio Lozano Alonso
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  4. Gloria Rodríguez Carretero
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  5. Manuel Franco Martín
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Correspondence to Agustín Tomás Vega Alonso MD, MPH, PhD.

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Vega Alonso, A.T., Rasillo Rodríguez, M.Á., Lozano Alonso, J.E. et al. Eating disorders. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 40, 980–987 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0996-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0996-9

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