Background: Eating disorders are complex psychiatric syndromes in which cognitive distortions related to food and body weight and disturbed eating patterns can lead to significant and potentially life threatening medical and nutrition complications.
Aim of the work: To evaluate the prevalence of subclinical form of eating disorders and the association between it and mood disorders (Major Depressive disorder, Dysthymia) and anxiety disorders in adolescent girls in Sharkia governorate
Subject and Methods: in this two-stage cross-sectional study, we screened 2000 secondary school-student girls using (EDT) ,and CSID-1(for eating disorders) .Those scoring more than 30in EDT, and +ve SCID-1 (N=471) and a control group randomly selected from those scoring lower than 30, and –ve SCID-1 for eating disorders (N=215). To differentiate types of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and EDNOS (subclinical eating disorders). All subjects(+ve SCID-1) involved in stage 2 were examined for mood disorders (depression, dysthymia) by using beck scale for depression, SCIA-I scale for dysthymia, and anxiety disorders by using taylor scale.
Results: the prevalence of subclinical eating disorders were 25.5% (SAN 3.5%, SBN 3.0%, SWC 10.0% and SBED 9.0%), there were statistically significant differences in socio-demographic data between the SEDS groups (Subclinical anorexia nervosa is low significant in BMI than other groups), Prevalencedepressive disorder 10.8%, MDD in SEDS patients were 2.5%, dysthymic disorder 4.0 % and generalized anxiety disorder 5.4%.
Conclusion: Subclinical eating disorders are more frequent than typical eating disorders. Subclinical forms of eating disorders may represent a high risk group for developing serious eating disorders, identifying this group will give an opportunity of prevention. Mood disorders (MDD, dysthymia ) and generalized anxiety disorder are more frequent in subclinical eating disorders.