[Life-style in eating behavior disorders].
OBJECTIVE
To identify the eating habits and lifestyles of patients with eating behaviour disorders (TCA in its Spanish acronym) who attended our out-patients' clinic at the "La Paz" Teaching Hospital for the first time.


METHODS
A questionnaire was drafted to which patients responded freely and anthropometric data were assessed.


RESULTS
The sample comprised 94 patients who were subsequently distributed into two groups: the first group contained 43 offspring of working mothers (HMTF) and the second 46 offspring of mothers who did not work outside the home (HMNTF in its Spanish acronym). In the case of the 5 remaining patients, their mothers had deceased. The results from the group as a whole showed the following lifestyles for Monday-Friday: 34.4% eat alone, 72% watch television while they eat and 68.1% use restrictive behaviour in their eating habits. When assessing the existence of a friend with TCA, the results were significantly higher among those under the age of 20 years (53.7%) versus those older than 20 (26.9%) (p < 0.05). No differences were found in the habits and nutritional status of HMTF and HMNTF since 8.2% of the first had severe caloric malnutrition versus 2.3% in the second group. While 12.2% of the HMTF group eat outside the home on weekdays and 44.9% of them eat alone, 20.5% of the HMNTF group eat outside the home on weekdays and 22.7% of them eat alone. The age of onset of TCA was significantly earlier among the HMTF group (16.6 years) than in the HMNTF group (19.0 years) (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
A large number of subjects had a friend with TCA in their close environment and this situation was more frequent among the youngest ones in the group. Some mistaken ideas regarding food have favoured unhealthy eating: in our group a large majority of people eat while watching TV. The development of TCA occurs earlier in connection with a particular family structure: where the mother works outside the home.
Calvo Viñuela
I
I
Unidad de Nutrición y Dietética, Hospital General, H. Universitario La Paz, Paseo de La Castellana, 261, 28046 Madrid. isabelcvjb@yahoo.es
Aroca Palencia
J
J
Armero Fuster
M
M
Díaz Gómez
J
J
Rico Hernández
M A
MA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000886:Anthropometry; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006796:Household Work; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012934:Social Isolation; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television; D014931:Women, Working