Associations of Eating Disorder with Sleep Status and Anthropometric Measurements in Female Adolescents in Zanjan, Iran

Eating disorders (EDs) are diseases of mental origin, which are associated with unusual eating behaviors. The structure of eating behaviors may differ depending on body weight and sleep status. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes and its associations with weight and sleep status in female adolescents in Zanjan, Iran.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 359 female students selected from the secondary high schools of Zanjan via random cluster sampling. Disordered eating attitudes and recent sleep quality were evaluated using the eating attitude test (EAT-26) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), respectively. In addition, anthropometric measurements were performed using standard protocols.

In total, 22.3% of the subjects had disturbed eating attitudes. Moreover, comparison of disordered eating attitude in these subjects with healthy students indicated significant differences in terms of body weight (P <0.05) and body mass index (BMI) (P < 0.05).

According to the results, abnormal eating attitude was highly prevalent in the students. Furthermore, the subjects with EDs had higher body weight, BMI, and PSQI scores, as well as shorter duration of sleep, compared to the others. And PSQI score along with shorter sleep duration than others.