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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Eating Behavior
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1515084

Eating disorders in medical students: prevalence, risk factors, comparison with the general population

Provisionally accepted
Raluca Motorga Raluca Motorga Mihaela Ionescu Mihaela Ionescu *Florina Nechita Florina Nechita *Daniela Micu Daniela Micu Iulia Băluțoiu Iulia Băluțoiu Maria Mădălina Dinu Maria Mădălina Dinu Dan Nechita Dan Nechita
  • University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: The main objectives were to investigate the prevalence of ED and associated risk factors among medical students in Romania, as well as to determine which variables may predict ED and to explore the differences between medical students and the general population. Methods: The Eating Disorders Inventory questionnaire (EDI-3) was applied. Also, the body mass index of the students was calculated, socio-demographic information regarding personal and family medical history was collected (mental and chronic diseases, self-reported sleep difficulties in the past six months, family history of obesity) and potentially risky events (history of ridicule, major negative events, social pressure to be thin from family, friends, media). Results: 37.1% students are at risk of eating disorders, 41% females and 23% males, according to the EDI-3. 14.42% were underweight, 65.05% normal weight, 16.99% overweight and 3.53% obese. Compared to the nationally representative sample in Romania, medical students had significantly higher scores for ED risk and for all other psychological factors. Conclusions: Medical students have a high risk of developing ED, even higher than the general population. Several factors were associated with the ED risk, including female gender, experiencing sleeping difficulties, feelings of ridicule, family pressure and media pressure, prior ED history, high BMI, negative events and family history of mental illness. The regression analysis showed that family pressure is a strong predictor for ED risk.

    Keywords: Eating Disorders, Medical students, social/family pressure, BMI, Sleep, Thin body, Anorexia, bulimia No underline

    Received: 25 Oct 2024; Accepted: 12 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Motorga, Ionescu, Nechita, Micu, Băluțoiu, Dinu and Nechita. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Mihaela Ionescu, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania
    Florina Nechita, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.