The influence of definitions on the prevalence of eating problems in an adolescent population.
OBJECTIVE
The definitions of eating problems vary widely as they integrate cognitive, behavioural and physiological components to different degrees. The aim of this study was to show how much these differences affect the prevalence of eating problems in an adolescent population.


METHODS
All of the 9131 adolescents in a Norwegian county participated in a health study, 8042 (88.1%) of whom gave valid responses to a questionnaire covering various aspects of eating problems, and had their weight and height measured.


RESULTS
The prevalence of eating problems ranged from 0.3 to 47.0% depending on the definitions used. The various definitions also gave different gender ratios, although the prevalences increased with age in females only.


CONCLUSIONS
The various definitions of eating problems had a low degree of correlation and led to quite variable prevalences. All of them showed that the prevalence of eating problems was higher in females, but their prevalence in males was also considerable.
Bjömelv
S
S
Department of Psychiatry, Innherred Hospital, Levanger, Norway. sigrid.bjornelv@hnt.no
Mykletun
A
A
Dahl
A A
AA
D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012744:Sex Ratio