title: Exercise dependence among customers from a Parisian sport shop.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We assessed exercise dependence (ED), alcohol and nicotine use disorders, eating disorders, hypochondria and compulsive buying and in a population of customers of a Parisian sport shop.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred consecutive customers of a sport shop were invited to participate. Diagnostic of exercise dependence was made with the Exercise Addiction Inventory and a specific questionnaire checking all diagnostic criteria. The DSM-IV-TR criteria for bulimia, alcohol and nicotine use disorders were checked and all subjects answered the CAGE and Fagerström questionnaires. Hypochondria was assessed with the DSM-IV-TR criteria and the Whiteley Index of Health Anxiety. For all parameters, customers with (ED+) and without (ED-) exercise dependence were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of exercise dependence was 29.6%. Subjects from the ED+ group were younger than in the ED-group (27.1 vs 29.8 years) and there were more women. They were more dependent on alcohol, had higher scores at the CAGE questionnaire. ED+ subjects more often presented hypochondria (23 vs 15%), bulimia and binge eating and they more often made gifts to themselves and to others.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exercise dependence appears as a frequent and almost always unrecognized form of behavioral dependence in non clinical population frequenting sport shops. It is frequently associated to chemical dependence and eating disorders.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lejoyeux
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guillot
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chalvin
authors.forename: Aymeric
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petit
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lequen
keywords: addiction; alcohol abuse; alcohol dependence; behavioral addiction; bulimia; exercise dependence; sport