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Assessment of eating disorders and depression in postpartum women

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 78, pages 314–319 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To determine the prevalence of eating disorders and orthorexia in postpartum women and examine the relationship with postpartum depression.

Study design

Included in this study were 227 postpartum women. The Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) was used to determine the risk of eating disorders in the women, followed by the Orthorexia 11 Scale (ORTO-11) to identify orthorexia, and the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) to identify postpartum depression.

Results

63 of the women (27.8%) exhibited an orthorexic tendency, which was also related to eating disorders and postpartum depression. Each one-point increase in the EAT-26 score led to a decrease of 0.32 points in the ORTO-11 score. Similarly, each one-point increase in the EPDS score caused a reduction of 0.18 points in the ORTO-11 score. The ORTO-11 score increased by 0.26 points per each live birth.

Conclusion

An obsessive focus on healthful nutrition may result in the impairment of health and numerous adverse psychological and physiological outcomes in the future. Healthy eating habits should be maintained to improve the quality of life without causing an obsession with healthy eating.

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Fig. 1: Pearson correlation analyses between the scales.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Çankırı Karatekin University, Health Science Faculty, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Çankırı, Türkiye

    Fatma Tayhan

  2. Lokman Hekim University, Health Sciences Faculty, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Ankara, Türkiye

    Gökcen Doğan

  3. Ankara University, Health Sciences Faculty, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Ankara, Türkiye

    Nurcan Yabancı Ayhan

  4. Izmir Private ATA Sağlık Hospital, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Izmir, Türkiye

    Ceren Sancar

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  4. Ceren Sancar
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Contributions

FT was responsible for conceptualizing the research protocol, writing the protocol and report, conducting the research, analyzing data, interpreting results, adjusting the manuscript according to the comments of co-authors, updating reference lists and forming ‘Summary of findings’ tables. GD and NYA were responsible for designing the research protocol and screening potentially appropriate studies. They provided a review and critical evaluation of the manuscript. CS contributed to collecting the data.

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Correspondence to Fatma Tayhan.

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Tayhan, F., Doğan, G., Yabancı Ayhan, N. et al. Assessment of eating disorders and depression in postpartum women. Eur J Clin Nutr 78, 314–319 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-023-01384-7

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