Abstract
The aim of the present study is to evaluate the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders in the population of Polish upper secondary school female students, while considering the type of school and living conditions. The investigations of eating disorders were conducted between March and June 2017 and covered female students of the upper secondary schools of Szczecin. Selection for the survey was multistep. 1,750 questionnaires were included in the analysis. The study used a tool for screening for the occurrence of eating disorders - the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). Lower scores were observed among higher grade students (EAT-26, EAT dieting) as well as those who did not receive pocket money (EAT dieting, EAT bulimia) (p < 0.05). (1) Age has proved to be an important prognostic factor for eating disorders. The risk decreased as the age of the examined girls increased. (2) The risk of eating disorders was almost 21 times higher among first and second grade girls.
Highlights
Research on the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders has not been often undertaken in recent years, either in Poland or worldwide
Studies on the prevalence of eating disorders in the United States indicate that anorexia affects 0.3% of teenagers; bulimia affects 1.3% of girls; and binge eating disorder (BED) affects 2.3% of girls [4]
Lower scores were observed among higher-grade students (EAT-26, EAT – dieting) and those who did not receive pocket money (EAT – dieting, EAT – bulimia) (p < 0.05)
Summary
Research on the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders has not been often undertaken in recent years, either in Poland or worldwide. Studies on the prevalence of eating disorders in the United States indicate that anorexia affects 0.3% of teenagers (boys and girls); bulimia affects 1.3% of girls (and 0.5% of boys); and binge eating disorder (BED) affects 2.3% of girls (and 0.8% of boys) [4]. It is the number of people with disordered eating, and the number of new cases, or incidence rate, that poses difficulty in estimating (studies of this type are scarce [3]). In Poland the DALY indicator for all mental disorders is 2,259.99 per 100,000 inhabitants [5]
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