SCREENING THE RISK FOR EATING DISORDERS AMONG MEDICAL DENTISTRY STUDENTS – A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify the presence of eating disorders among freshmen dentistry students. Material and methods: a number of 81 students were included in the research. Socio-demographic, anthropometric, health-related and medical data were registered. The eating disorders were evaluated using Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-3). Statistical analysis was done using SPSS (version 24.0). Results: The scores for the female dentistry students from our sample are higher on four (low self-esteem, personal alienation, interpersonal insecurity, interpersonal alienation) of the 12 subscales of the EDI-3, compared to women from the general population. For male students, six scores were registered to be higher than that of Romanian males: body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, personal alienation, interpersonal insecurity, interpersonal alienation, and maturity fears. The more hours the students sleep per night, the lower they score on personal alienation. Twenty minutes per day is the time allocated for physical activity by dentistry students. No differences between male and female students on number of sleeping hours per night was identified. EDI-3 subscales are related to eating behaviors. Conclusion: There is a need to investigate the rate of eating disorders among university students in order to adapt therapies.

Keywords

• dentistry students
• dietary habits
• eating disorder
• EDI-3.
• health-related behaviors