Prevalence of disordered eating and its impact on quality of life among a group of college students in a province of west Turkey

objective: to determine the prevalence of disordered eating (de) among a group of college students and assess its impact on quality of life. material and methods: this study was conducted between december 15th, 2008 and january 15th, 2009 at a turkish university. eating attitudes test-40 (eat-40) was used to identify de. health related quality of life (hrqol) was assessed by medical outcomes study short form-36. results: the prevalence of de was 6.8%. presence of any physical defect (or: 2.657), parents living separately (or: 3.114), mothers having an education level of secondary school and over (or: 2.583), and families not having social health insurance (or: 2.603) were important risk factors (f<0.05). conclusions: the hrqol of those with de was worse than those without it. periodic screenings should be done to determine de cases.