A cross-sectional investigation on eating disorders in 1486 female students from universities, senior high schools and junior high schools in Chengdu / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the prevalence of eating disorders and its correlated factors in female students of universities,senior high schools and junior high schools.Methods A total of 1486female students took part in the study.They were sampled by optimum distributing delaminating grouping method,representing the female students in 6 universities and 8 high schools in the 5 urban areas in Chengdu.Participants completed the Eating Disorder Inventory(EDI),Body Mass Index-based Silhouette Matching Test(BMI-SMT),Self-rating Depression Scale,Beck Anxiety Inventory and a self-administered questionnaire in the class time.We performed the t test and logistic regression to analysis the data.Results The estimated total prevalence of eating disorders in the female students was 3.32%.17 years old (7.16%)was the easiest age to develop eating disorders while in senior high school(5.21%)showing the highest prevalence rate.There were differences between the eating disorders tendency group and none eating disorders tendency group in cognitive warp(P=0.009)and expectation warp(P=0.000)of BMI-SMT.The related factors of eating disorders wereconcerning about the idol at media,non-harmonious parental relationships and being abused in childhood,body dissatisfaction factor of EDI,interoceptive awareness factor of EDI and anxiety.Conclusion The total prevalence of female students'eating disorders in Chengdu was high and more attention should be paid to them on their mental health.