The prevalence of suspected eating disorders and their symptoms in Lithuanian athletes and their association with athletic performance
Objectives (oral/poster only) Eating disorders are a significant and widespread problem both - in the general population and in athletes. Many studies have been performed on specific populations, such as rowers, figure skaters, or long-distance runners to determine eating disorders. Although the latter are track and field athletes, this group alone does not reflect the prevalence of the problem in athletics. Aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of suspected eating disorders and their related symptoms in Lithuanian athletes and their association with athletic performance. Materials and methods (oral/poster only) 60 competitive Lithuanian track and field athletes were surveyed using an original questionnaire and SMHAT-1 questionnaire, in which Brief Eating Disorder in Athletes Questionnaire (BEDA-Q) is included. Athletes self-reported their personal best performance based on the World Athletics scoring system used to measure athletes' mastery. Pearson correlation was calculated to determine the correlation between the two scale variables, while point biserial correlation – between scale and nominal variables. The Chi-square test was used to determine the dependence between two nominal variables, Cramer's V test was used to calculate the effect size. Results (oral/poster only) 33.3% of respondents scored above the thresholds for predicting the presence of eating disorders. 25% of respondents had attempted to lose weight during the study, compared with 71.67% of respondents who had done so overall. Predicted eating disorder risk was also moderately positively correlated with depression and anxiety questionnaire scores (r = 0.55, p < 0.001 and r = 0.51, p < 0.001 respectively). No statistically significant association was found between athlete performance and predicted risk of eating disorder (p > 0.05). Conclusions This study found that one-third of the athletes are at risk for an eating disorder and that this pathology is associated with anxiety and depression. The study also found no association between eating disorders and athletic performance.