Introduction:

Eating disorders (ED) are a group of mental health disorders characterized by a pathological behavior towards food intake and an obsession with weight control, accompanied by a distortion in the perception of body image. Its origin is multifactorial, and includes biological, psychological, family and sociocultural causes. The most well-known EDs are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, but there are also others, such as binge eating disorder, orthorexia (obsession with healthy food) and vigorexia (obsession with exercise). These disorders can cause significant morbidity and mortality. They occur commonly in adolescents.

Objective:

To analyze the prevalence of eating disorders in adolescents enrolled in school during two time periods (2008 and 2012).

Materials and Methods:

This was an observational, descriptive, and retrospective prevalence study in adolescents enrolled in two schools in two urban and three rural areas, in 2008 and 2012, using a rapid-application screening tool to evaluate the risk of eating disorders by Unikel -Santorini.

Results:

469 students were included in the two time periods. In 2008, the prevalence was 6%, in 2012 it was 9.5%. The prevalence remained stable (p <0.05), but ruralization of the disorder was observed (p <0.05), and was more frequent in females in 2008 (p <0.05).

Conclusions:

The prevalence of ED in the population was 6 and 9%, respectively, maintaining a stable trend, with a striking ruralization of the disorder.

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