Relationship between social anxiety symptoms and eating disorder symptoms in referred nulliparous women

Social anxiety and eating disorder symptoms are common disorders which may occur simultaneously. Since different prevalence of these symptoms in different countries and cultures، this study was evaluated the relationship between social anxiety symptoms and eating disorder symptoms in Nulliparous women. this cross-sectional study was conducted on 190 Nulliparous women refered to Mashhad health care centers in 2013. Personal/prenatal characteristics، Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) (26Q) and social anxiety disorder questionnaire (17Q) were completed by the participants. Data were analyzed by the statistical tests of Pearson correlation coefficient، Student’s t-test، one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)، and linear regression tests through SPSS)version 14 (. P Value less than 0. 05 were considered significant. 28 women(14. 7%) had social anxiety disorder and 16 women (8%) had eating disorder symptoms. Based on the Pearson correlation coefficient test، there was a positive and and significant correlation between the social anxiety disorder and eating disorder symptoms (P<0. 001، r=-0. 42). Education of all health workers، particularly midwives about nutritional problems during pregnancy، can be helpful for diagnosis and early detection of anxiety abnormalities.