Editor's Special Interest Articles Eating Disorders Probed In Athletes College athletes may have far fewer eating disorders than researchers thought. A psychiatric screening test of 90 percent of the student athletes at East Tennessee State University found that less than 4 percent - nine out of 260 athletes - had eating disorders, said Dr. Andres Pumariega, chairman of the department of psychiatry at ETSU, Johnson City. At the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington, Pumariega said the prevalence of eating disorders in the study was far below previous estimates of at least 15 percent, especially among women athletes. "This was the first true systemic evaluation of a college athletic program," Pumariega said. The athletes, 89 women and 171 men, took standard tests designed to determine if the students suffered from eating disorders, depression or general mental disorders. "Our findings suggest a much lower risk for eating disorders in college athletes than found to date in other studies of high school and college athletes," Pumariega said. He said reasons for the findings might be that ETSU students are a lower socioeconomic class, they participated at a lower level of competition or there were cultural differences between athletes coming from rural areas when compared with those of urban areas. He said studies have found higher levels of eating disorders - mainly bulimia and anorexia - in more competitive, more urban and higher socioeconomic groups. Pumariega said he could not discern any correlation between the sport being played and the risk of eating disorder. The men studied played intercollegiate baseball, basketball, football, golf, tennis, track and cheerleading; the women played basketball, golf, soccer, tennis, track volleyball and cheerleading. "The only correlation with an eating disorder," he said, "was among those students who showed signs of psychiatric illness." Overall, he said, the level of eating disorders in the athlete population was similar to the national level. As in the overall population, women were more likely than men to have eating disorders among the athletes studied. Dr. Nada Stotland, professor of psychiatry at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and moderator of a press briefing on Pumariega's talk, said, "The study results don't support the concern about eating disorders among college athletes. But, like most good research, this work shows that we need further studies in this area." Copyright 1999 by United Press International All rights reserved. - Updated: December 25, 2003   Mustain Family Health & Home, along with all information provided, is for educational purposes only and is not an attempt to replace the need to seek healthcare services or to provide specific healthcare advice. We strongly encourage users to consult with their chiropractor or other qualified healthcare professionals for personal healthcare attention and answers to personal questions. Mustain Family Health & Home 11201 N. May Oklahoma City, OK 73120 Rick Mustain Mustain Chiropractic Clinic E-Mail: info@mustainhealth.org Phone: 405-751-0848 Fax: 405-752-5839 Published by Healthy Practices, Inc.     © 2001-2003 Healthy Practices, Inc. All rights reserved.