Investigation of the Relationship between Eating Disorder Symptoms and Body Image in Women Attending to Gyms in Ahvaz in 2009

Eating disorder is one of the common disorders in psychiatry, caused by the nutrition behavior disorder for weight loss as a result of functional and psychological diseases as well as social damage. This disorder appears in the form of functional, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral disorders that leads to mood disorders, interpersonal relationships, internal conflict strengthening hypochondriasis in the person that is further seen in the communities paying more attention to weight loss and being thin in social and cultural terms. Given that people with eating disorders, resort to strict diets, fasting, use of laxatives and diuretics, and excessive exercise, attending to gyms makes these people accessible. Since according to the present studies eating disorders statistics of our urban society is the same as Western societies, and due to the lack of reliable statistics in this field in Ahvaz, this study aims to investigate the prevalence of eating disorders and background factors associated with it, especially the fear of body image in our culture, providing the background to prevent, screening, and therapeutic intervention in these patients. Obviously, we can achieve better results with inclusive education by impact on the knowledge and attitudes of the society in the long-term. This study is a descriptive-analytical study conducted in Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences in 2010. In this study, first a list of the women gyms has been provided, and then 20 gyms have been selected randomly. The checklists of eating attitudes test and fear of body image have been along with demographic data, and their height and weights were measured as well. Approximately 1000 persons received the questionnaires during the year, that 500 have been collected and 315 persons filled the questionnaires and their information have been usable. The data obtained from filling the questionnaires have been entered and analyzed by SPSS18. The mean score of eating attitude test in all the women have been 16.4 ± 8.4 ranging from 1 to 50. In addition, according to the results, 59 patients (18.7%), and 256 patients (81.3%) of the studied women had a positive and negative screening of eating attitudes test, respectively. Average score for fear of body image in these women has been 33 ± 9.5 ranging from 19 to 76. In addition, according to the results, 46 patients (14.6%) of the studied women had disturbed body image and 269 (85.4%) with a score of less than 42, did not have disturbed body image. Pearson correlation test conducted on the obtained data showed that there is a significant relationship between the disturbed body image and disordered eating attitudes as 0.36 (P< 0.001). Logistic regression analysis performed on data obtained from the study showed that the risk of eating disorders for women with disturbed body image is five times higher than women with no disturbed body image (OR = 5.1), and according to the mentioned test this odds ratio is quite significant (p< 0.001). In addition, the obtained confidence interval for the odds ratio has been 6.2 to 10, and because the above-mentioned range does not include the number 1, this odds ratio is significant (95%CI = 2.6 10). According to the results of this study, there is a relationship between disordered eating attitudes and disturbed body image, and we must promote public awareness about the effects of eating disorders complications via the media and the press to, and try to treat the eating disorders and disturbed body image in patients and people at risk through psychiatry and psychology.