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

Maha Hoteit; Hala Mohsen; Khlood Bookari; Ghadir Moussa; Najwa Jurdi; Nour Yazbeck

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.956310

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

Front Nutr. 2022 Jul 19:9:956310. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.956310. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Maha Hoteit^{1

2

3}, Hala Mohsen^{1

2

3}, Khlood Bookari^{4

5

6}, Ghadir Moussa¹, Najwa Jurdi¹, Nour Yazbeck^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
² PHENOL Research Group (Public HEalth Nutrition prOgram Lebanon), Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
³ Lebanese University Nutrition Surveillance Center (LUNSC), Lebanese Food Drugs and Chemical Administrations, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁴ National Nutrition Committee, Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Executive Department of Monitoring and Risk Assessment, Food Sector, Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Madina, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: The raised prevalence of eating disorders (ED) amongst health science students and health professionals is of mounting concern. This study aims to determine the prevalence and correlates of eating disorders risk amongst a sample of Lebanese health science students and healthcare practitioners of both genders.

Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled a convenient sample of 1,000 participants (mean age: 23 ± 5.4; females: 74.9%) from faculties of health sciences, clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals. The validated Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) was used to screen for eating disorders. Anthropometric data were self-reported by respondents to assess their nutritional status.

Results: The risk of eating disorders was prevalent in 22.5% of participants. Females were at higher risk of ED compared to males p = 0.03. Eating disorders risk did not differ between students and practitioners (p = 0.3). The highest proportion of high-risk participants were students studying nutrition and practitioners (40.9%), outracing their counterparts in nursing (18.7%), medicine (17.8%), pharmacy (17.7%), and midwifery (4.9%) sciences (p = 0.02). Most high-risk participants had normal body weight (60.4%), and 28.9% were overweight (p = 0.001). Female gender, nutrition profession, and dieting were associated with increasing the odd of ED. Particularly, dieting increased the risk around five times. Further, each 3 participants over 10 were facing binge eating behavior.

Conclusion: This study uncovers an undervalued profession-related-health-disorder in Lebanese health science students and healthcare practitioners. Specific attention should be given to EDs in professional educational programmes across healthcare disciplines.

Keywords: Lebanese; eating disorders; health sciences; practitioners; students.