The relationship among pubertal timing, overweight and obesity and eating disorders in adolescents / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the relationship among pubertal timing, overweight and obesity, and eating disorders among Bengbu adolescents, and to provide a reference for obesity prevention.@*Methods@#Two nine year schools were conveniently selected in Bengbu, with 683 students from grade 5 to grade 8. Puberty Development Scale (PDS) and Eating Disorders Inventory of Children (EDI-C) subscale were used, height and weight were measured. The associations between obesity, pubertal timing and eating disorders were analyzed.@*Results@#The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in boys than that in girls, and the rate of early pubertal timing, drive for thinness score, body dissatisfaction score and total eating disorder score were higher in girls than that in boys( χ 2/t =28.69, 57.99, 3.47, 2.59, 3.30, P <0.05). The differences in rate of overweight and obesity, bulimia score and total eating disorder score were statistically significant by grade( χ 2/F =28.39, 5.11, 3.95, P ＜0.01). There was a positive correlation among overweight obesity and early pubertal timing and eating disorder, and a positive correlation between early pubertal timing and eating disorder( r =0.18, 0.17, 0.14, P < 0.01 ). The mediating effect of early pubertal timing between overweiht, obesity and eating disorders partially contributed 14.25% to the total effect.@*Conclusion@#Overweight and obesity is associated with eating disorders, and early pubertal timing partially mediate the association between overweight obesity and eating disorders. Healthy lifestyle should be advocated in family and school to effectively prevent adolescents obesity, pubertal timing, and eating disorders.