Exploration of Eating Disorders, Nutritional and Health Status Based on Eating Attitude Test-26 amongst University Adolescent Girls

Ayesha Syed^1, , Falak Zeb^{1, 2,} , Saleem Khan¹, Mahpara Safdar³, Iftikhar Alam⁴, Muhammad Shahzad⁵, Fazli Akbar¹, Feng Qing², Xiaoyue Wu² and Masooma Munir⁶

¹Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan

²Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University Jiangsu, China

³Department of Home and Health Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad, Pakistan

⁴Department of Clinical Nutrition, College of Community Health, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

⁵Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University Peshawar, Pakistan

⁶Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan

Cite this paper:
Ayesha Syed, Falak Zeb, Saleem Khan, Mahpara Safdar, Iftikhar Alam, Muhammad Shahzad, Fazli Akbar, Feng Qing, Xiaoyue Wu and Masooma Munir. Exploration of Eating Disorders, Nutritional and Health Status Based on Eating Attitude Test-26 amongst University Adolescent Girls. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research. 2018; 6(7):464-470. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-6-7-7

Abstract

Eating disorder causes serious disturbances in behaviors related to nutrition in adolescent. Although most of these attitudes are benign, they can bear significant psychological and health risks. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 university adolescent girls studying in Peshawar Pakistan to explore their eating disorder, nutritional and health status. Girls were interviewed for eating attitudes by using Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26), socio-economic status and body image. Anthropometric and biochemical indices were measured. Based on EAT-26 scale, girls with and without eating disorders were identified. In both groups the association between anemia and risk factors was evaluated. Health and nutritional risk factors for anemia in girls were identified by applying logistic regression. Mean score of EAT-26 was 18±10.5 while for Dieting, Bulimia, Oral Control and Body Image of the girls was 8.5±7, 3.20±2.59, 6.36±4.41 and 20±9 respectively. EAT-Score was found in strong association with anemia in unadjusted and adjusted analysis. Among the health factors, girls with symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress were more likely anemic than their counterpart. More anorexic girls were found overweight and obese in comparison to the rest (p<0.05). Body shape being android or gynoid as well as anemia were found similar among the groups (p>0.05). More anorexic girls showed significant difference in less freshness, disrupted sleep and low physical activity (p<0.05). It has been concluded that eating disorders (anorexia) are more prevalent in university adolescent girls and could adversely affect the health and nutritional status of the students.

Keywords:
eating attitude anorexia anemia gynoid bulimia body image score

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