title: The understanding of risk factors for eating disorders in male adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study aimed to describe the medical, psychiatric, and cultural features of adolescent males with an eating disorder (ED).
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective evaluation took place at Hacettepe University, İhsan Doğramacı Children's Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, and covered a 4-year period between 2010 and 2013. Sixty adolescents were diagnosed with an ED during this period, 47 (78.3%) were females and 13 were males (21.7%) male. All 13 male patients who met full criteria for an ED according to the DSM criteria were included. Medical and psychiatric records of male patients treated for an ED were re-evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most striking finding of the study was that the female to male ratio became 3.6:1, with the increasing number of male adolescents with an ED. In our study, medical findings and complications of males with ED were similar to those seen in females. However, the most predominant gender difference was the co occurrence of a comorbid physical or mental illness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is imperative to raise awareness of EDs in males. Although the medical findings of the study suggest that male and female adolescents with EDs are clinically similar to each other, the understanding of certain gender-specific risk factors shown in our study, such as a medical illness and/or obesity and co-morbid psychiatric diagnosis, are essential in raising suspicion. Further studies that especially evaluate cultural and social factors that affect parenting styles for boys are important in addessing possible risk factors for the development of EDs in males within different societies.
authors.forename: Sinem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akgül
authors.forename: Devrim
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Akdemir
authors.forename: Mahmut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kara
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Derman
authors.forename: Füsun Çuhadaroğlu
authors.initials: FÇ
authors.lastname: Çetin
authors.forename: Nuray
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanbur
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014421:Turkey