[Bulimic behaviours in female adolescent endurance runners].

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present work is to evaluate bulimic behaviors among female adolescent endurance runners. METHODS From a total of 40 athletes affiliated to the Track and Field Federation of Rio de Janeiro, 17 female teenager endurance runners (age: 16+/-1,8 years) were examined. The instrument used to investigate bulimic behavior and its gravity was BITE (Bulimic Investigatory of Edinburg). RESULTS The results showed that 35,6% of the athletes (6 of them) had scores above the limit of normality (=10) 29,4% (4 of them) showed a non-usual pattern (between 10 and 19). It was found one case with score above 20 indicating a problem. With respect to the seriousness, values above 5 in the scale BITE are considered significant and a case of this type was found in the analyzed sample. CONCLUSION Since some non-usual pattern were found and also in at least one case a major problem was indicated by the high score it was concluded that more studies are necessary, and also the development of an index to gauge the gravity of the problem in order to make in time preventive measures.