Disordered Eating Attitudes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Predictive Role of Physical Activity, Body Mass Index, and Gender

Background & Aims of the Study:

COVID-19 pandemic has affected the essential components of a healthy lifestyle, including healthy eating and physical activity. This study aimed to investigate the disordered eating attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic and the predictive role of physical activity, body mass index, and gender.

A total of 705 Iranian men and women older than 18 years participated in the present study from September 12 to October 3, 2020. The study data were collected online by self-administered questionnaires. The eating attitudes test and Baecke physical activity questionnaire were used for this purpose. One-sample t test, paired t test, and multivariate linear regression were used to analyze the data (P<0.05).

The present study results showed that only women experienced a significant increase in disordered eating attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic (P=0.0001), and no significant change was observed in men in this regard (P=0.54). However, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced physical activity levels in Iranian women and men (P=0.0001; P=0.001, respectively). In this regard, three variables of physical activity, body mass index, and gender were the most important predictors of disordered eating attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It seems that the COVID-19 pandemic has adverse consequences on essential elements of a healthy lifestyle, including healthy eating and physical activity. Teaching nutritional behaviors and using a healthy diet, and how to increase physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be very vital and essential.