Disturbed eating behavior in Iranian adolescent and young females with type-1 diabetes compared to non diabetic peers: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND An association of eating disorder with diabetes mellitus may lead to a serious lack of metabolic control, higher mortality and morbidity. There is no recent study conducted in the Iranian population about eating disorder and its variants. The aim of the present study is investigation of frequency of disturbed eating behaviors in adolescent girls with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) compared to non-diabetics. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, disturbed eating behavior were evaluated and compared in two groups of 12-22 year old adolescent and young females (126 with diabetes and 325 without diabetes). A self-report questionnaire including demographic data, Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26) was used for data gathering. Independent t-test, Chi-square test, and logistic regression [odds ratio (OR)] were used for data analyses in SPSS 15. RESULTS Findings revealed that higher percentage of diabetic girls are likely to have eating disturbances (67.9% vs. 53.8%, P = 0.01). Diabetic group obtained higher scores in both dieting (14.95 ± 6.28 vs. 11.79 ± 5.62, P < 0.001) and bulimia scales (4.9 ± 3.13 vs. 4.12 ± 2.89, P = 0.017), which supports a role for T1DM in inducing the symptoms. Diabetic girls were at more than double the risk of developing eating disturbance. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that a significantly higher percentage of diabetic girls are likely to have eating disturbances. Also, diabetic subjects had an increased probability of getting higher scores in all three EAT-26 subscales. Therefore, healthcare professionals, especially diabetic nurses, should be aware of the potential effects of the subclinical and clinical eating behaviors on adolescents with T1DM and evaluate them for these disturbances.