Prevalence of Eating disorders in a sample of Egyptian female athletes
Nahwet Adel Al Madani;
Abstract
Eating disorder (ED) is marked by extremes. It is present when a person experiences severe disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating, or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape. A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amounts of food than usual, but at some point, the urge to eat less or more spirals out of control.
As female athletic participation has increased, the positive effects of exercise on health have become evident. However, with this growth in sports activity a set of health problems unique to the female athletes has emerged. The escalation in female sports participation has been increased over 900% and intercollegiate sports participation witnessed a growth of 450%.
For athletes, DE behavior may reflect their dedication to the sports therefore, athletes try to achieve the ``ideal body shape'' for their sport to ensure optimum performance. This ``ideal body shape'' is generally mirrored in successful adult athletes in the sport. This can be a significant problem, especially for adolescent female athletes, who are experiencing puberty and thus may gain a significant amount of fat.
Some studies have shown that in certain sports, adolescent athletes have an increased risk of developing eating disorder pathology compared to adolescents from the general population. Moreover, ED pathology seems to be more prevalent in (a) athletes compared to non-athletes, particularly in high sport level athletes, (b) female compared to male athletes and (c) leanness- and weight-dependent sports compared to other sports .
Regarding this study, it is a cross sectional comparative study conducted in between December 2012 to December 2013. Two hundred subjects were recruited and tested for EAT-26, of these hundred athletes were selected from Gezira Sporting Club, Helioplis Sporting Club, Shooting Sporting club and ELAhly Sports Club. The remaining hundred were age and sex matched non athletes randomly recruited.
Sixty two (31%) subjects were tested positive for high risk for eating disorder. These sixty two subjects are tested for EDI2, SCID I as well as clinical examination. 42% of the athlete were at risk of ED while 35% have ED. Also, 20% of the non athlete group were at risk for ED while 16% have ED.
The mean age and BMI of included subjects were 17.6 and 18.7 respectively. The educational level was predominantly school age group. Most of the included subjects were single (92%) and within average weight compared to their age (53%).
As female athletic participation has increased, the positive effects of exercise on health have become evident. However, with this growth in sports activity a set of health problems unique to the female athletes has emerged. The escalation in female sports participation has been increased over 900% and intercollegiate sports participation witnessed a growth of 450%.
For athletes, DE behavior may reflect their dedication to the sports therefore, athletes try to achieve the ``ideal body shape'' for their sport to ensure optimum performance. This ``ideal body shape'' is generally mirrored in successful adult athletes in the sport. This can be a significant problem, especially for adolescent female athletes, who are experiencing puberty and thus may gain a significant amount of fat.
Some studies have shown that in certain sports, adolescent athletes have an increased risk of developing eating disorder pathology compared to adolescents from the general population. Moreover, ED pathology seems to be more prevalent in (a) athletes compared to non-athletes, particularly in high sport level athletes, (b) female compared to male athletes and (c) leanness- and weight-dependent sports compared to other sports .
Regarding this study, it is a cross sectional comparative study conducted in between December 2012 to December 2013. Two hundred subjects were recruited and tested for EAT-26, of these hundred athletes were selected from Gezira Sporting Club, Helioplis Sporting Club, Shooting Sporting club and ELAhly Sports Club. The remaining hundred were age and sex matched non athletes randomly recruited.
Sixty two (31%) subjects were tested positive for high risk for eating disorder. These sixty two subjects are tested for EDI2, SCID I as well as clinical examination. 42% of the athlete were at risk of ED while 35% have ED. Also, 20% of the non athlete group were at risk for ED while 16% have ED.
The mean age and BMI of included subjects were 17.6 and 18.7 respectively. The educational level was predominantly school age group. Most of the included subjects were single (92%) and within average weight compared to their age (53%).
Other data
| Title | Prevalence of Eating disorders in a sample of Egyptian female athletes | Other Titles | معدل إنتشار إضطرابات الاكل فى عينة من الرياضيات المصريات | Authors | Nahwet Adel Al Madani | Issue Date | 2014 |
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