Eating disorder risk may be high in diabetic girls
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
By Joene Hendry
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among girls with type 1 diabetes, a "remarkably high" number appear to develop eating behaviors associated with anorexia, bulimia and other clinical eating disorders, researchers in Canada report.
These girls may display "weight and shape concerns, lower self-esteem and higher symptoms of depression in the 'normal' non-clinical range," Dr. Marion Olmsted, of the University of Toronto in Ontario, told Reuters Health.
She and her colleagues followed 101 girls with type 1 diabetes, between 9 and 13 years old at baseline, for 5 years. They found that about half of the subjects developed disturbed eating behavior.
The girls' behaviors included eating less for weight control rather than diabetes control, binge-eating, self-induced vomiting, using diuretics or laxatives, and exercising excessively to control weight, Olmsted and colleagues report in the medical journal Diabetes Care.
Over the 5-year study, the investigators gathered data on self-esteem, attitudes regarding physical appearance and social acceptance, depression, quality of parental relationships, diabetes control, and height and weight.
To determine which characteristics were associated with the development of disturbed eating behavior the researchers compared data for 38 girls who developed disturbed eating behaviors and 38 of their counterparts who did not.
Higher body mass index (the ratio of weight to height used to estimate if someone is under- or over-weight), concerns with weight and shape, lower self-esteem, and more reports of depressive symptoms during the previous 1 to 2 years, were the characteristics most significantly associated with disturbed eating behavior.
However, as noted, measures of weight and shape, low self-esteem, and symptoms of depression were still within a "normal" range in the girls with developed disturbed eating behavior.
"The threshold for identifying girls with diabetes who are at risk for disturbed eating behavior needs to be set very low," Olmsted's group suggests.
Early interventions may help girls with diabetes develop positive feelings about themselves, their weight and shape, and their physical appearance, the researchers add.
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, October 2008.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
By Joene Hendry
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among girls with type 1 diabetes, a "remarkably high" number appear to develop eating behaviors associated with anorexia, bulimia and other clinical eating disorders, researchers in Canada report.
These girls may display "weight and shape concerns, lower self-esteem and higher symptoms of depression in the 'normal' non-clinical range," Dr. Marion Olmsted, of the University of Toronto in Ontario, told Reuters Health.
She and her colleagues followed 101 girls with type 1 diabetes, between 9 and 13 years old at baseline, for 5 years. They found that about half of the subjects developed disturbed eating behavior.
The girls' behaviors included eating less for weight control rather than diabetes control, binge-eating, self-induced vomiting, using diuretics or laxatives, and exercising excessively to control weight, Olmsted and colleagues report in the medical journal Diabetes Care.
Over the 5-year study, the investigators gathered data on self-esteem, attitudes regarding physical appearance and social acceptance, depression, quality of parental relationships, diabetes control, and height and weight.
To determine which characteristics were associated with the development of disturbed eating behavior the researchers compared data for 38 girls who developed disturbed eating behaviors and 38 of their counterparts who did not.
Higher body mass index (the ratio of weight to height used to estimate if someone is under- or over-weight), concerns with weight and shape, lower self-esteem, and more reports of depressive symptoms during the previous 1 to 2 years, were the characteristics most significantly associated with disturbed eating behavior.
However, as noted, measures of weight and shape, low self-esteem, and symptoms of depression were still within a "normal" range in the girls with developed disturbed eating behavior.
"The threshold for identifying girls with diabetes who are at risk for disturbed eating behavior needs to be set very low," Olmsted's group suggests.
Early interventions may help girls with diabetes develop positive feelings about themselves, their weight and shape, and their physical appearance, the researchers add.
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, October 2008.
