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A two-stage epidemiologic study on prevalence of eating disorders in female university students in Wuhan, China

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Abstract

Background

The community prevalence of eating disorders among Chinese young women may now be similar to their western counterparts.

Aim

To investigate the prevalence of eating disorders (ED) in female university students in Wuhan, China, using a two-stage design.

Method

In stage one, 99.1 % (N = 8,444) of eligible students (N = 8,521) completed the eating disorder inventory-1 (EDI-1) and a survey of relevant anthropomorphic data. A total of 421 women scored above the cut-off for EDE-1, as defined by a set of criteria similar to those of Keski-Rahkonen (Int J Eat Disord 39:754–762, 2006). 257 (61 %) of these case-positive women and a random sample of case-negative women (312 out of 8,023, 4 %) whose scores did not exceed the defined cut-off were interviewed using the eating disorder examination (EDE) and the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID-I).

Results

On interview with the SCID-I, 79 women were diagnosed with an ED. Among them, 10 had anorexia nervosa (AN), 21 bulimia nervosa (BN), and 48 binge eating disorder (BED) The results showed a prevalence rate of 1.05 % (95 % CI = 0.02–2.08) for AN, 2.98 % (95 % CI = 1.21–4.74) for BN, and 3.53 % (95 % CI = 1.75–5.30) for BED.

Conclusion

The prevalence of ED among female university students in China is now similar to that of their western counterparts, and BED is the most common ED followed by BN and AN similarly.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by National Key Technologies R&D Program (National demonstrative study on comprehensive screening, evaluation and intervention for issues of family, marriage and parent–child relation, 2009 BAI77B05) and Human development and mental health in Hubei province key laboratory open project (200902).

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan Mental Health Center, Wuhan Hospital for Psychotherapy, affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Kaiming Road 44#, Wuhan, China

    Jun Tong, Shaojiang Miao, Jian Wang & Fan Yang

  2. Counseling Center, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Haixiong Lai

  3. Counseling Center, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China

    Chunyan Zhang

  4. Counseling Center, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China

    Yanhua Zhang

  5. Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, 02111, USA

    L. K. George Hsu

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  1. Jun Tong
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  2. Shaojiang Miao
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  3. Jian Wang
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  4. Fan Yang
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  5. Haixiong Lai
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  6. Chunyan Zhang
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  7. Yanhua Zhang
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  8. L. K. George Hsu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun Tong.

Additional information

Shaojiang Miao, PHD is a co-first author.

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Tong, J., Miao, S., Wang, J. et al. A two-stage epidemiologic study on prevalence of eating disorders in female university students in Wuhan, China. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 49, 499–505 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0694-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0694-y

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