ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Severity of borderline level eating disorders in students
Saratov State Medical University, Saratov, Russia
Correspondence should be addressed: Anna A. Voitovich
Kuznechnaya, 11/21, Saratov, 410031, Russia; ur.liam@88.hcivotiov
Compliance with ethical standards: all students submitted the informed consent to participation in the study.
The relevance of the study results from high significance of nutrition and the growing interest of today’s researchers in the phenomenon of orthorexia nervosa (ON) as an obsessive desire for healthy, proper diet. The study aimed to assess ON severity in students. The students’ anthropometric measurements (body height, body weight), body mass index (Quetelet Index), ON severity based on the ORTO-15 questionnaire, features of the diet based on the Food Frequency Questionnaire were assessed, with subsequent statistical processing of the results. High prevalence of ON among both girls and young men (80.2% of the respondents) was shown. Furthermore, there were no differences in the ON phenomenon severity between young men and girls, and the relationship between the ON severity and the anthropometric measurements was non-significant (p > 0.05). Food selectivity associated with the phenomenon of ON was found in 3.3% of cases. Imbalanced diet was found in the majority of the respondents. The study has made it possible to conclude that the subjects constitute the group at risk of eating disorders. Further research is needed to accurately diagnose ON and reveal the relationship between ON and possible risk factors of this condition.
Keywords: students, healthy lifestyle, nutrition, orthorexia nervosa, BMI