title: Orthorexia nervosa in a sample of Italian university population.
abstract: To investigate frequency and characteristics of orthorexic behaviours in a large university population.
  
  
  
  A total of 2826 individuals volunteered to complete an on-line anonymous form of ORTO-15 questionnaire, a self-administered questionnaire designed and validated to evaluate orthorexic symptomatology. As made in previous studies, an ORTO-15 total score lower than 35 has been
  used as an optimal threshold to detect a tendency to orthorexia nervosa. A specifically designed form was also used to collect socio-demographic variables.
  
  
  
  Overall, 2130 students and 696 university employees belonging to University of Pisa (Italy) were assessed. Orthorexic features had a frequency of 32.7%. Females showed a significantly higher rate of over-threshold scores on ORTO-15, a lower BMI, a higher rate of underweight condition and of vegan/vegetarian nutrition style than males.
  
  
  
  Orthorexia nervosa defined as a “fixation on healthy food”, is not formally present in DSM-5. The emergence of this condition as a new, possible prodromal of a psychological syndrome, has been recently emphasized by an increasing number of scientific articles. From our sample of university population emerged that being vegetarian or vegan, under-weight, female, student and being interested in the present study were significantly predictive of orthorexic tendency.
  
  
  
  Our data contribute to define the new conceptualization of orthorexia nervosa. Further studies are warranted in order to explore the diagnostic boundaries of this syndrome, its course and outcome, and possible clinical implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dell'Osso
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carpita
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Massimetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pini
authors.affiliation: Prorectorate to Students Affairs and Right to Education, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rivetti
authors.affiliation: Prorectorate to Students Affairs and Right to Education, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gorrasi
authors.affiliation: Prorectorate to Students Affairs and Right to Education, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosalba
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tognetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Valdo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ricca
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carmassi
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004033:Diet Fads / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005178:Faculty / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D055951:Functional Food; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology; D014495:Universities; D000066989:Vegans / Q000523:psychology; D000066988:Vegetarians / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult