Eating disorders risk among obese adolescents Riesgo de trastornos alimentarios en adolescentes obesos de la Región Metropolitana

Abstract

© 2014, Sociedad Medica de Santiago. All rights reserved.Background: Preliminary research suggests that eating disorders (ED) are common among overweight teenagers. Missing the diagnosis is a poor prognostic factor. Aim: To quantify the risk of ED and the effects of age, sex and severity of obesity in obese adolescents. Patients and Methods: We studied 99 obese adolescents with a body mass index (BMI) > percentile 95 of CDC-NCHS, 51% females, aged between 11 and 19 years, attending an obesity clinic. The Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (EDI-2) was used to evaluate the risk of ED. A score equal or higher than 110, corresponding to the 85th percentile, was considered as risky. Results: Sixteen percent of studied adolescents had EDI scores > 110. No statistically significant differences were observed by age, sex or severity of obesity. EDI-2 scores in participants with a BMI z score over and under 4 were 93.6 ± 33.9 and 78.2 ± 38.8 respectively (p = 0.02). A high percentage of participants h