Eating Disorders among College Students in France: Characteristics, Help-and Care-Seeking

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to identify the characteristics of broader categories of eating disorders (ED) and help- and care-seeking among college students. An online cross-sectional study was conducted among students of the University of Rouen-Normandy, France. The Expali-validated algorithmic tool, combining SCOFF test (Sick, Control, One stone, Fat, Food) and body mass index, was used to screen eating disorders into three diagnostic categories: restrictive eating disorders, bulimic eating disorders, and hyperphagic eating disorders. A total of 1493 college students were included; mean age was 20.1 years (SD = 1.9). The prevalence of likely cases of eating disorder was 24.8% (95% CI, 22.6–27.0). Percentage distributions of bulimic eating disorders, hyperphagic eating disorders, and restrictive eating disorders were 13.3%, 8.6%, and 2.9%, respectively. The two main resources for help-seeking in emotional stress situations were friends and family, whatever the ED. Students with eating disorders consulted their general practitioner more often for stress or anxiety than students without eating disorders: hyperphagic eating disorders (44.9%), restrictive eating disorders (35.1%), bulimic eating disorders (30.2%), and no eating disorder (20.4%) (p < 0.0001). The prevalence of healthcare renunciation was 21.9%, with a higher risk among students with bulimic eating disorders (AOR CI 95% 1.91 (1.34–2.72). The findings show one quarter of students screened positive for an eating disorder. Stress management was not necessarily different between students with eating disorders and students without eating disorders, but the former had a greater risk of renouncing treatment, especially related to a fear of seeing a general practitioner.

Prevalence, correlates, and gender disparities related to eating disordered behaviors among health science students and healthcare practitioners in Lebanon: Findings of a national cross sectional study

“…Another cross-sectional study with Pakistani medical students provided similar results by observing that 87.9% of high-risk participants were females ( 14 ). Also consistent with these findings were that obtained in France ( 21 ), the United States and Canada ( 26 ), Tunis ( 27 ), and Saudi Arabia ( 18 ), which all explored that female participants were more vulnerable to eating disorders risk than male participants. The National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a national community household survey of the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in the United States, found that women have 1.75–3 times higher lifetime prevalence for anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder than men ( 28 ).…”

“…The current findings are in agreement with that reported in Pakistan among a sample of medical students where 23% appeared to have a high risk of eating disorders based on EAT-26 instrument ( 20 ). On the other hand, the prevalence of eating disorders among 1,493 college students of the University of Rouen-Normandy, France, exceeded our obtained one only slightly (24.8%) ( 21 ). In the United States of America, the prevalence of eating disorder risk among a sample of registered dietitian nutritionists was about 13%, which was less alarming than that obtained in the present study ( 22 ).…”

Eating-Disordered Behavior in Adolescents: Associations with Body Image, Body Composition and Physical Activity

“…Losing weight together with excessive levels of PA are characteristic for a subgroup of individuals with AN [2]. Since the SCOFF questionnaire itself does not allow for exact cross-sectional ED classification in adolescents at the moment, future research should perhaps focus on the development of a similar clinical algorithm as the recently developed Expali TM [45,46]. This can provide more comprehensive knowledge about prevalence rates of eating and other mental disorders, which is central to the provision of health care in the community [4].…”

Eating Behavior during First-Year College Students, including Eating Disorders—RUVIC-RUNEAT-TCA Project. Protocol of an Observational Multicentric Study

“…A total of 1943 college students, with a mean age of 20.1 (±1.9) were evaluated. In the results, 63.4% were woman, 8.6% underweight, 12.4% overweight, and 4.6% obese, with a prevalence of EDs of 24.8%, especially in female students (31.6%) compared with males (17.0%) ( p < 0.001), being bulimic 13.3%, hyperphagic 8.6% and restrictive 2.9% [ 12 ]. In Ontario (Canada), they studied 301 students aged 17 to 20 years from Brock University during the first year of college and demonstrated that male and female students, and especially male, undergo changes in nutrition and body weight/composition, making their diet worse, increasing body weight, BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, and body fat, [ 10 ].…”