Hoteit Maha, Mohsen Hala, Bookari Khlood, Moussa Ghadir, Jurdi Najwa, Yazbeck Nour
Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
PHENOL Research Group (Public HEalth Nutrition prOgram Lebanon), Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
Front Nutr. 2022 Jul 19;9:956310. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.956310. eCollection 2022.
The raised prevalence of eating disorders (ED) amongst health science students and health professionals is of mounting concern. This study aims to determine the prevalence and correlates of eating disorders risk amongst a sample of Lebanese health science students and healthcare practitioners of both genders.
This cross-sectional study enrolled a convenient sample of 1,000 participants (mean age: 23 ± 5.4; females: 74.9%) from faculties of health sciences, clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals. The validated Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) was used to screen for eating disorders. Anthropometric data were self-reported by respondents to assess their nutritional status.
The risk of eating disorders was prevalent in 22.5% of participants. Females were at higher risk of ED compared to males = 0.03. Eating disorders risk did not differ between students and practitioners ( = 0.3). The highest proportion of high-risk participants were students studying nutrition and practitioners (40.9%), outracing their counterparts in nursing (18.7%), medicine (17.8%), pharmacy (17.7%), and midwifery (4.9%) sciences ( = 0.02). Most high-risk participants had normal body weight (60.4%), and 28.9% were overweight ( = 0.001). Female gender, nutrition profession, and dieting were associated with increasing the odd of ED. Particularly, dieting increased the risk around five times. Further, each 3 participants over 10 were facing binge eating behavior.
This study uncovers an undervalued profession-related-health-disorder in Lebanese health science students and healthcare practitioners. Specific attention should be given to EDs in professional educational programmes across healthcare disciplines.
饮食失调（ED）在健康科学专业学生和健康专业人员中的患病率不断上升，这一情况日益受到关注。本研究旨在确定黎巴嫩健康科学专业学生和医护人员样本中饮食失调风险的患病率及其相关因素。
这项横断面研究纳入了来自健康科学学院、诊所、药房和医院的1000名参与者（平均年龄：23±5.4岁；女性：74.9%）的便利样本。使用经过验证的饮食态度测试（EAT - 26）来筛查饮食失调情况。人体测量数据由受访者自行报告，以评估他们的营养状况。
22.5%的参与者存在饮食失调风险。女性患饮食失调的风险高于男性（P = 0.03）。学生和从业者之间的饮食失调风险没有差异（P = 0.3）。高风险参与者比例最高的是学习营养学的学生和从业者（40.9%），超过了护理（18.7%）、医学（17.8%）、药学（17.7%）和助产（4.9%）专业的同行（P = 0.02）。大多数高风险参与者体重正常（60.4%），28.9%超重（P = 0.001）。女性、营养专业和节食与饮食失调几率增加有关。特别是，节食使风险增加了约五倍。此外，每10名参与者中有3人面临暴饮暴食行为。
本研究揭示了黎巴嫩健康科学专业学生和医护人员中一种未得到充分重视的职业相关健康障碍。应在各医疗保健学科的专业教育项目中特别关注饮食失调问题。
