Factores asociados a la prevalencia de trastornos de la conducta alimentaria en las adolescentes Navarras
Abstract (summary)
Few epidemiologic studies have reflected the magnitude of the problem of eating disorders in mediterranean countries.
The objectives of our study were: (1) To estimate the prevalence of eating disorders in a representative sample of girls of Navarre (Spain). (2) To assess the factors cross-sectionally associated with these problems.
Subjects of this study were female adolescents (12–21 years) living in Navarra in 1997. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select classrooms as the sampling unit. Information was collected by means of a questionnaire which included the validated Spanish versions of the Eating Attitudes Test (Garner and Garfinkel, 1979), the Eating Disorder Inventory (Garner et al., 1984), the Eysenck Personality Inventory (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1990) and the “Autoconcepto forma A” (Musitu et al., 1994) as well as a 24-hour recall and a Food Frequency questionnaire (Martin Moreno et al, 1993). A double stage design was used to diagnose eating disorders. In the first stage (screening) we applied the Eating Attitudes Test. In the second stage, adolescents scoring high in this test (EAT > 30) were interviewed by a psychiatrist. Subjects who fulfilled DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were classified as a case.
Participation rate was 90.4% and response rate was 82.4%. Finally 2862 girls participated in the study.
Total prevalence of eating disorders was 4.1% (CI 95%: 3.5–5.0). Eating disorders non specified (EDNOS) were the most frequent diagnoses with a prevalence of 3.1% (CI 95%: 2.5–3.8). The prevalence of anorexia nervosa was 0.3% (CI 95%: 0.1–0.6) and of bulimia nervosa 0.8% (CI 95%: 0.48–1.16).
Multivariate analyses identified the following factors associated to eating disorders: previous eating disorders in the family, frequent reading of magazines for adolescents, high neuroticism indexes, high scores of perfectionism, low scores for interoceptive awareness, a lower energy intake and a lower fat intake.
Indexing (details)
Nutrition;
Social psychology;
Womens studies
0570: Nutrition
0451: Social psychology
0453: Womens studies