“Prevalence of orthorexia nervosa in a sample of patients attending sligo/leitrim mental health services with a diagnosis of eating disorder”

Abstract

Introduction

The term Orthorexia derives from the Greek “ortho – correct” and “orexis – appetite”; Orthorexia Nervosa is a pathological fixation with healthy eating that, starting with the idea to obtain a maximum health with a proper diet, leads to malnourishment and other medical sequelae, loss of relationships, loss of self-esteem, poor quality of life in general. Orthorexia, despite receiving broad empirical evidence, is not currently included in any psychiatric diagnostic manual.

Objectives

The main aim of this study is to investigate its presence in a sample of patients already diagnosed with a canonical eating disorder and also to understand eventual overlaps with other clinical disorders in order to optimize treatment and follow up.

Methods

The ORTO-15 questionnaire, developed by an Italian team of researchers in 2005, was used to achieve the above aims: it is a tool comprehensive of 15 questions that assesses eating habits perceived as healthy. Really interesting and fascinating is to comprehend if people with a diagnosis of eating disorder present orthorectic behaviour and how this emerging reality fits in the Irish society with its peculiarities and uniqueness.

Results

The Point Prevalence obtained is 17.9%. The expected rates of Orthorexia Nervosa in the general population are between 6.9% and 57.6%, with a peak of 81.8% in specific populations, fact that places our examined sample in the lower side of the prevalence previously considered in other studies.

Conclusions

It is significant the absence of correlation found between OCD and ON and that ON is more linked to Bulimia Nervosa rather than Anorexia Nervosa.