Prevalence of eating disorders among adolescent and young adult scholastic population in the region of Madrid (Spain).
OBJECTIVE
The prevalence of eating disorders (EDs) in a representative scholastic sample was evaluated, and the demographic factors associated with ED were assessed.


METHODS
The study used a two-stage epidemiological design. The study population was a randomly selected sample of 1545 students (12- to 21-year-old males and females) in the region of Madrid (Spain).


RESULTS
ED prevalence was 3.43%. Prevalence estimations were as follows: 5.34% for females: 2.72% for eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS), 2.29% for bulimia nervosa (BN), and 0.33% for anorexia nervosa (AN); and 0.64% for males: 0.48% for EDNOS, 0.16% for BN, and 0.00% for AN. Some demographic factors that were shown to be associated with ED included the following: sex, age, single child, single-parent families, and father or mother's death.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the methodological improvements over previous epidemiological studies developed in Spain, there were no significant differences in the prevalence estimations.
Peláez Fernández
María Angeles
MA
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada.
Labrador
Francisco Javier
FJ
Raich
Rosa María
RM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002648:Child; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires