Prevalence of orthorexia nervosa among Turkish performance artists

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa among the performance artists in the State Opera and Ballet and in the Bilkent University Symphony Orchestra. The study population consisted of 39 men and 55 women for a total of 94 artists with mean age of 33 years. The ORTO-15 test was used to determine the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa. Those subjects who scored below 40 in the ORTO-15 test were classified as having orthorexia nervosa. Mean score of the participants in the ORTO-15 test was 37.9+/-4.46. A total of 56.4% of the artists involved in the research scored below 40 in the ORTO-15 test. While the highest prevalence of orthorexia nervosa was recorded among opera singers (81.8%), it was 32.1% among ballet dancers and 36.4% among symphony orchestra musicians. The differences between the three groups were statistically significant. No difference was noted between mean ORTO-15 score by baseline characteristics as gender, age, educational level, work experience, body mass index, smoking and alcohol consumption. The research group have a higher socio-economic and education level than the majority of the general public in Turkey. Additionally, being an artist in Turkey means being a role model for the general public both in terms one's physical appearance and lifestyle. These may be the reason why artists are more sensitive to this issue.

Exploring scientific legitimacy of orthorexia nervosa: a newly emerging eating disorder

“…The differences between the three groups were statistically significant. No difference was noted between mean ORTO-15 score by baseline characteristics as gender, age, educational level, work experience, body mass index, smoking and alcohol consumption (Aksoydan & Camci, 2009). …”

“…By contrast, orthorexia may be more prevalent in males (Aksoydan et al,2009;Donini et al, 2004;Fidan ea al., 2010). The rate of Binge-Eating Disorder (BED) may be higher in males as in orthorexia (Barlow, 2008).…”

Risco de ortorexia nervosa e o comportamento alimentar de estudantes de nutrição

“…No estudo de Aksoydan & Camci (2009) [13] sobre ortorexia nervosa, realizado com 94 artistas turcos, de ambos os gêneros, foi encontrada uma prevalência de 56,4%, sendo a amostra constituída por cantores de ópera (81,8%), bailarinos (32,1%) e músicos da orquestra sinfônica (36,4%). Os autores referem que para os turcos, os artistas são considerados modelos de aparência física e de estilo de vida, sendo essa a possível vulnerabilidade desse grupo.…”

Ortorexia nervosa: reflexões sobre um novo conceito

“…Até o momento, são encontradas vinte e uma publicações, sendo apenas nove artigos originais de pesquisa [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . Os demais trabalhos consistem de: três artigos sobre a descrição e caracterização da ortorexia nervosa [18][19][20] , dois estudos de casos clínicos 21,22 e duas cartas ao editor 23,24 .…”

“…O ORTO-15 foi traduzido para o turco e empregado para estudar a prevalência da ortorexia nervosa em médicos residentes 12 e em artistas 15 turcos. Outro grupo de pesquisadores turcos 14 avaliou as propriedades psicométricas da versão turca do ORTO-15, encontrando uma baixa consistência interna (Alpha de Cronbach = 0,44).…”