A SURVEY OF EATING DISORDERS PREVALENCE IN PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE OF ZANJAN PROVINCE AND EFFECTIVE FACTORS ON IT

Background and Aim: Eating disorders is a general category of nutritional disturbances. It consists of two major categories of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. As sports activities are known as a cause for etiology, the formation and continuation of eating disorders, this survey was studied. Methods: The samples in this descriptive-analytic study were selected from professional athletes of 97 female and male based on Morgan table and randomly clustered according to geographic regions of Zanjan province that had at least three years of experience in sport and participated in national and international competitions. Demographic questionnaire and eating attitudes test (26 questions) were used to collect information. SPSS24 was used to perform statistical calculations.Results: The results showed that the prevalence of eating disorders in professional athletes in Zanjan province was 56.6% and the anorexia nervosa is the most common type of them. Also, although the prevalence was higher in female than in male, but sex variable were not identified as effective factor in the prevalence and the relationship between sex and age variables with the prevalence was not statistically significant. However, the variables of the level of education and the type of sport activity as effective factors were confirmed and the relationship between these variables and the prevalence was statistically significantConclusion: Given the growing trend of eating disorders in today s societies and the results of this research and due to the complex role of sports motives which can lead to physical, psychological and functional Decrease, the diagnosis and prevention of these disorders should be considered.

Keywords:

Eating disorders , Anorexia nervosa , Bulimia nervosa , Professional athletes