Abstract
BackgroundDuring recent years, there has been increasing interest in the study of eating disorders within sports practitioners, with prevalence being reported to be higher than in the general population. The aim of this study was to describe and predict eating disorders according to sex, body mass index, age and sport discipline within a sample of athletes.MethodsA sample of 4037 cyclists and triathletes from across Spain was selected. Athletes self-reported demographic characteristics and completed the revised restraint scale, SCOFF questionnaire and Mediterranean diet adherence screener. To be eligible for inclusion, participants had to be over eighteen years old.ResultsMales were significantly less likely than females (p < 0.001; OR = 0.33), and triathletes (p < 0.01; OR = 0.76) were less likely than cyclists to suffer from an eating disorder. Possibility of suffering from an eating disorder increased with increasing body mass index (p < 0.001; OR = 1.38) and decreasing age (p < 0.001; OR = 0.97).ConclusionFindings suggest that the roles of sex, sport discipline, age and body mass index predict risk factors for eating disorders in a sample of Spanish athletes. Clinical diagnosis seems necessary to better understand the factors and mechanisms at play when Spanish athletes develop an eating disorder.Trial registrationEthics Committee of the University of Granada (N°883) data: 16/11/2015.
Highlights
During recent years, there has been increasing interest in the study of eating disorders within sports practitioners, with prevalence being reported to be higher than in the general population
Worldwide rates are increasing in the general population [3], amongst young people (15 to 19 years old) [4] and eating disorders are associated with some of the highest mortality rates found for mental illnesses [5]
As a potentially protective factor, other dieting habits such as following Mediterranean dietary patterns have been shown to be inversely associated with risk of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa [13]
Summary
There has been increasing interest in the study of eating disorders within sports practitioners, with prevalence being reported to be higher than in the general population. Worldwide rates are increasing in the general population [3], amongst young people (15 to 19 years old) [4] and eating disorders are associated with some of the highest mortality rates found for mental illnesses [5]. There has been an increasing interest in the study of ED within sports practitioners with prevalence being reported to be higher than in the general population [6,7,8], reaching 45% in female athletes [9]. As a potentially protective factor, other dieting habits such as following Mediterranean dietary patterns have been shown to be inversely associated with risk of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa [13]
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