Abstract P046: The Association Of Sex And Gender With Disordered Eating Behavior In Youth With Hypertension

Abstract

Background: DEB (disordered eating behavior) prevalence in adolescents has been increasing steadily. Females generally have a higher prevalence compared to males in the general population, but data do not exist in adolescents with HTN, a condition that requires lifestyle counseling and is more common in males. Finally, the difference in the risk of DEB conferred between sex, a biological construct, and gender, a self-identified construct, is characterized poorly, especially in youth with HTN. Objective: Determine the association of sex and gender with DEB prevalence in adolescents with HTN disorders. Hypothesis: Females will have a higher prevalence of screening positive for DEB compared to males regardless of if defined by sex or gender. Design/Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a prospective cross-sectional study of adolescents aged 11-18 years with HTN disorders. We excluded patients with diabetes mellitus, kidney failure or transplantation, or gastrostomy tube dependence. We collected data via electronic health record abstraction and surveys, including the validated SCOFF DEB screening questionnaire, with a score ≥2/5 as positive, as well as self-reported sex, defined as assigned at birth, and gender, defined as that with which the participant identifies. We compared DEB prevalence by sex and gender using bivariate generalized linear models; our directed acyclic graph identified no variables in the adjustment set. Results: Of 74 participants, 59% (44/74) identified as male and 41% (30/74) identified as female. One participant whose sex was male declined to answer the gender question. DEB prevalence overall was 28% (21/74); it was 20% (9/45) in males and 41% (12/29) in females by both sex and gender. Females had double the risk of DEB compared to males, when defined by sex (adjusted RR 2.07, 95% CL 0.9996 to 4.28), or gender (adjusted RR 2.02, 95% CL 0.98 to 4.18). However, our findings did not meet statistical significance at p <0.05. Conclusions: Among adolescents with HTN disorders, females had double the risk of screening positive for DEB compared to males by both sex and gender. Adolescents with HTN may benefit from routine DEB screening, especially those that identify as female.