[The first epidemiologic survey among Hungarian elite athletes: eating disorders, depression and risk factors]

It is a fact that the incidence rate of anorexia nervosa is high among athletes who are considered a high-risk population in terms of eating disorders, and it is known as anorexia athletica by specialised literature. Our goal is to assess the prevalence of eating disorders among leading Hungarian athletes.

Before the 2008 Olympics we conducted questionnaire surveys in several Hungarian training camps: demographic and training data, anorexia nervosa inventory for self-rating (ANIS) and the bulimia investigation test, Edinburgh (BITE). We processed the data with the application of the SPSS software package.

The average age was 22+/-4.9 years in the different sports (canoeing, pentathlon, handball, basketball, volleyball, weight-lifting). Average body mass index (22.15+/-2.12 kg/m2 ) was in the normal range. Prevalence of clinical anorexia nervosa was 12 (16.7%) and clinical bulimia nervosa was 5 (6.9%). The incidence rate of at least one pathological symptom was 73.6% with regard to the whole population. The prevalence of the depression episode was 37.5% by the current population.

The prevalence of eating disorders among athletes was remarkably higher compared to the average population which, however, correlates with the international data. Our outcomes encourage further detailed researches.