RESUMO
Background: Stress of the higher studies leads to various disorders, especially eating ones. Such disorders, once present, may influence body image and self-esteem of young students
Aim: to assess the prevalence of eating disorders among a group of Medicine students and to study its links with stress level and selfesteem
Methods: It was a descriptive and analytic cross-sectional study, including 60 medicine students that were investigated during their revision for the final year exam. The participants had filled the perceived stress scale, the eating attitude test EAT-40 and The Rosenberg self-esteem scale
Results:The eating disorders were found in 11% of the participants. Those had a low to a very low self-esteem in 40% of cases and a high perceived stress level in 36, 4% of cases. The eating disorders were significantly more frequent among the female students [p=0, 03], the more sedentary [p=0,019], having a low to a very low self-esteem [p=0,032] and a high perceived stress level [p=0,001]
Conclusion: Our study shows that the prevalence of eating disorders is not negligible among medicine students. Their presence depends on certain personal aspects [physical activities, body image satisfaction] and contextual aspects [period of exams, stress]. If existing, they would affect negatively the self-esteem, especially of the girls. These various results pave the way for a multidisciplinary approach to students particularly vulnerable to eating disorders