Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Elite Athletes Is Higher Than in the General Population :

The EDE is a semistructured interview which has been developed as a measure of the specific psychopathology of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. To establish its discriminant validity it was administered to 100 patients with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa and to 42 controls. The two groups differed significantly on all items. Five subscales were derived on rational grounds and evaluated on the two populations. The alpha coefficients for each subscale indicated a satisfactory degree of internal consistency. The EDE provides clinicians and research workers with a detailed and comprehensive profile of the psychopathological features of patients with eating disorders.

The relationship between athletic participation and eating problems is examined using meta-analysis. Both the risk and protective elements of athletic participation are considered. Data from 34 studies were used to examine the overall relationship between athletic participation and eating problems. Relationships for specific sports, elite athletes, and various age groups are also examined. Athletes appeared to be somewhat more at risk for eating problems than nonathletes. This was especially true of dancers. Significant effects did not emerge for gymnasts. Elite athletes, especially those in sports emphasizing thinness, were at risk. Nonelite athletes, especially in high school, had reduced risk of eating problems compared to controls. Body dissatisfaction was lower in athletes. There appear to be circumstances under which sports participation by women constitutes a risk factor for certain elements of eating problems. In other situations, athletic participation may be protective against eating problems. Copyright 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The purpose of this paper was to review and summarize the research literature on the spectrum of eating disturbances.