Eating Disorders

College students may have a lower prevalence or risk of eating disorders than previously. A survey of 320 undergraduate students found that less than two percent were anorexic, less than one percent were bulimic and 2.8% had disordered eating patterns. By contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 1997 that 2.6% of surveyed college students had vomited or used laxatives within 30 days to lose or control weight, and over four percent had taken diet pills.

At one college, 60% of those participating were female; 70% were Caucasian, 26% were African American, and 4% indicated "other." The subjects were fairly equally divided among the four class rankings, and the mean age was 21 years. A 15-minute survey, administered through randomly selected courses, asked about:

1) previously diagnosed conditions (8 of the 320 students reported having diagnosed bulimia or anorexia);
2) disordered eating behaviors, i.e., use of laxatives or diet pills, binge eating, induced vomiting, and fasting more than 24 hours;
3) body type perception; and
4) demographics, such as ethnicity and gender.

The percentage who reported disordered eating behaviors within the last 30 days (daily or weekly) were as follows: laxative use (1.2%), diet pill use (4.8%), binging (2.6%), induced vomiting (0%), and fasting over 24 hours (4.2%). The participants had an unexpected but accurate perception of their body type or classification as to: underweight, average weight, or overweight when compared to their calculated Body Mass Index . No significant differences were found among the ethnic groups.

Health education in recent years may have contributed to the accuracy of participants' perception of their body types. Documenting body type perceptions and prevalence of eating disorders among high school youth and pre-teens was suggested.

(Oswalt D and Welle-Graf H. Eating disorders: no longer trapped by food. Int Electronic J Health Educ. 1999;2(1):6-12)

COMMENT: The authors did not clarify how they combined the behaviors to conclude that 2.8% of the subjects had disordered eating behaviors. High school nurses may want to work with local college student health nurses to monitor trends in health-related practices beyond high school to identify impacts of secondary school interventions.