Clinical trial NCT04252924: Habits, Orthorexia Nervosa and LIfestyle in STudents
Official title: The Prevalence of Healthy Lifestyle in Students in Europe: the Mediterranean Diet, Orthorexia Nervosa, Appropriate Physical Activity, Stress Perception, and Sleep Habits
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: Habits
Health Behavior
Diet Habit
Sleep
Stress
Physical Activity
Keywords: Mediterranean diet
physical activity
sleep
stress
orthorexia nervosa
Lead sponsor: University of Split, School of Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Pavia
name: University of Foggia
name: Beirut Arab University
name: University of Wroclaw
name: University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca
name: Universidad Pablo de Olavide
First posted: 2020-02-05
Enrollment: 5000
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 16
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The study population includes the overall student population from the following universities:

University of Split (Split, Croatia), University of Pavia (Pavia, Italy), University of Foggia (Foggia, Italy), Koc University (Istanbul, Turkey), Beirut Arab University (Beirut, Lebanon), University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Katowice, Poland), University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca (Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Universidad Pablo De Olavide (Sevilla, Spain)

Brief summary: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) compose a substantial proportion of the global burden of diseases, posing a significant challenge in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries. In particular, certain lifestyle-related risk factors, such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and sleep deprivation are the leading risk factors, which place people at an increased risk of developing NCDs. On the other hand, a growing phenomenon of excessive concern about diet and health is emerging, and it is contributing to the development of a novel eating behavior disorder named orthorexia nervosa. According to recent studies, orthorexic behavior is very common among young adults and especially so in health-care professionals.

The main objective of this multi-center study is to explore and compare lifestyle habits among undergraduate medical students and other healthcare-related professions from different countries (Croatia, Lebanon, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Turkey). The goal is to obtain information on the presence of unhealthy habits in order to be able to intervene, offering the information needed for primordial disease prevention in this young and still healthy group of respondents, who are the health educators and role models of the future. The particular importance of this goal is to raise awareness of the problem of the ubiquitously present unhealthy lifestyles. Unfortunately, health-care students are not the exception regarding the prevalence of the unhealthy diet, sedentary behavior, sleep deprivation and high levels of psychological stress. Furthermore, the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle patterns in health-care workers, such as doctors and nurses, will have far-reaching negative consequences, in both their health and their patients' health. The results of this study will be used for identifying the needs and targets for intervention, enabling students to become a pillar of health education for their patients and the population in general.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. students enrolled in any of the health-care related studies:

   * medical students
   * dental medicine students
   * pharmacy students
   * nursing students
   * physiotherapy students
   * dietetics/nutrition students
   * biomolecular science students
   * biomedical laboratory techniques students
   * psychology students
2. economy students
3. students of maritime sciences

Exclusion Criteria:

* none

Primary outcomes:
measure: the Mediterranean diet adherence
timeFrame: 1 day
measure: moderate to vigorous level of physical activity
timeFrame: 1 day
measure: sleep duration
timeFrame: 1 day
measure: stress level
timeFrame: 1 day
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Orthorexia nervosa
timeFrame: 1 day
measure: Orthorexia nervosa
timeFrame: 1 day
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Split
country: Croatia
facility: Ivana Kolcic
city: Foggia
country: Italy
facility: Department of Economics, University of Foggia
city: Pavia
country: Italy
facility: University of Pavia
city: Beirut
country: Lebanon
facility: Beirut Arab University
city: Wroclaw
country: Poland
facility: Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw; University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Katowice)
city: Cluj-Napoca
country: Romania
facility: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine
city: Sevilla
country: Spain
facility: Universidad Pablo De Olavide
city: Istanbul
country: Turkey
facility: Koc University
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Split, School of Medicine
name: Ivana Kolcic, Assoc. Prof.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Monteagudo C, Mariscal-Arcas M, Rivas A, Lorenzo-Tovar ML, Tur JA, Olea-Serrano F. Proposal of a Mediterranean Diet Serving Score. PLoS One. 2015 Jun 2;10(6):e0128594. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128594. eCollection 2015.
citation: Craig CL, Marshall AL, Sjostrom M, Bauman AE, Booth ML, Ainsworth BE, Pratt M, Ekelund U, Yngve A, Sallis JF, Oja P. International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Aug;35(8):1381-95. doi: 10.1249/01.MSS.0000078924.61453.FB.
citation: Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav. 1983 Dec;24(4):385-96. No abstract available.
citation: Gleaves DH, Graham EC, Ambwani S. Measuring 'Orthorexia': Development of the Eating Habits Questionnaire. International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment. 12(2):1-18, 2013.
citation: Donini LM, Marsili D, Graziani MP, Imbriale M, Cannella C. Orthorexia nervosa: validation of a diagnosis questionnaire. Eat Weight Disord. 2005 Jun;10(2):e28-32. doi: 10.1007/BF03327537.