Anorexia Readiness Syndrome - about the need for early detection of dietary restrictions. Pilot study findings.

Beata Ziółkowska,Jarosław Ocalewski

doi:10.12740/pp/120411

Abstract

The pilot study aimed to determine the Anorexia Readiness Syndrome severity in a population of children aged 10 to 17 years according to general and sport class attendance. The following instrumentswere used: the Anorexia Readiness Syndrome inventory (SGA-12), to identify anorexic tendencies in adolescents aged 10 to 17 years, the Eating Disorders in Youth - Questionnaire (EDY-Q) inventory by Hilbert and van Dyck (the results of work on the Polish version of the instrument - in preparation) to assess eating disorders in children, and a questionnaire to obtain the respondents' details such as the date of birth, gender, chronic diseases, height and weight. In the study sample, a higher ARS severity was observed among the girls compared to the boys. Higher levels of anorexia readiness were seen in physically active subjects with a lower body mass index. The SGA-12 inventory does not correlate with the EDY-Q-PL, but factor I "anorexic tendencies and statements" demonstrates important relations to the total score of the EDY-Q-PL. It seems that the SGA-12 inventory can help identify ARS children and adolescents (including boys) to a greater extent than the previous tool (Questionnaire for testing individual attitude towards food); it helps determine the severity of anorexic behaviours within two factors and suggests the areas of intervention aimed at psychoprevention.

Highlights

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that remains a source of many problems for psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, etc., who support their patients in coping with this condition
At the core of the research the following assumptions were included: – In the study sample, there is at least a moderate severity of Anorexia Readiness Syndrome (ARS) symptoms. – Students of sports classes present a greater severity of ARS symptoms than students from general classes. – Girls present more severe ARS symptoms than boys. – ARS symptoms are related to the body mass index (BMI) value of the subjects. – The presence of a chronic disease does not differentiate the severity of the ARS symptoms of the subjects
The Pearson’s r correlations demonstrated that the variables such as gender, class type and BMI significantly correlate with the scores of the SGA-12 and EDY-QPL tests

Summary

Introduction

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that remains a source of many problems for psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, etc., who support their patients in coping with this condition. In 2000, the term Anorexia Readiness Syndrome (ARS) [7] was introduced, for which diagnosing may or may not lead to a full-syndrome anorexia. The rationale for this construct was primarily psychoprevention aimed at early diagnosis of anorexic tendencies among children and individuals in the first adolescence stage (aged up to 17 years) to prevent possible development of the condition, but . According to researchers who study improper eating habits in the population of adolescents, the effects of dietary restrictions and the use of limiting diets without medical or nutritional supervision may disturb proper human development and growth [8]; effective diagnosing of any abnormalities and taking interventional measures seem to be important for promoting a healthy lifestyle of the young generation as a whole

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion