Eating disorders associated risk factors: trends from 2007 to 2010

The purpose of this study was to determine the trends on risk factors associated to eating disorders in bachelor students from an urban setting in Hidalgo in the period 2007-2010.

Students were censored both in 2007 and in 2010, and registered as 455 (50.5% female, 49.5% male) students in 2007 and 434 (49.8% female, 50.2% male) in 2010, aged 15-19 years in both cases. Three questionnaires were used to assess sociocultural factors, disordered eating behaviors, and body aesthetic thin-ideal internalization. Body dissatisfaction was measured with nine body figure analogic. To assess body mass index, each subject was weighed and height measured. Comparisons by year and gender were obtained.

Body shape distress increased from 20.8% in 2007 to 21.7% in 2010; disordered eating behaviors trends increased from 2007 to 2010 both in females and males, but were statistically significant only in males. The percentage of subjects with body dissatisfaction in the sense to be thinner was the same in both years (39.8%). The risk analysis showed an increase in those with disordered eating, in thin-ideal internalization, advertising influence, and body shape distress, mainly in women.

These findings must be considered in the design of preventive programs and early case detection in adolescents from Hidalgo.