ArticleEating and weight disorders : EWD2020
Traits of orthorexia nervosa and muscle dysmorphia in Italian university students: a multicentre study.
Article in Eating and weight disorders : EWD, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Instruments used to measure well-being, ill-being, and health-related lifestyle behaviors in students attending Italian universities: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Overall proportion of orthorexia nervosa symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis including 30 476 individuals from 18 countries.Journal of global health · 2023Pooled it
- Muscle dysmorphia in adolescents and young adults.The Lancet. Child & adolescent health · 2026Review
- The muscle dysmorphia-eating disorders link as a public health concern: an epidemiological study of symptom dimensions and social isolation.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Factors Affecting Eating Motivation Play a Role in Orthorexia Nervosa in University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Eating Attitudes, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Dietetic Students and Association with Body Mass Index and Body Fat Percent: A Cross-Sectional Study.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Exploring the moderating role of mindfulness, mindful eating, and self-compassion on the relationship between eating-disordered quality of life and orthorexia nervosa.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2023Article
- Article
- "In-between orthorexia" profile: the co-occurrence of pathological and healthy orthorexia among male and female non-clinical adolescents.Journal of eating disorders · 2022Article
- Overlap of orthorexia, eating attitude and psychological distress in some Italian and Spanish university students.World journal of psychiatry · 2022Article
- What do Italian healthcare professionals think about orthorexia nervosa? Results from a multicenter survey.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2022Article
- Orthorexia nervosa is a concern in gastroenterology: A scoping review.Neurogastroenterology and motility · 2022Article
- Orthorexia nervosa: replication and validation of the ORTO questionnaires translated into Greek in a survey of 848 Greek individuals.Hormones (Athens, Greece) · 2022Article
- Functional gastrointestinal symptoms and increased risk for orthorexia nervosa.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2022Article
- Use of online and paper-and-pencil questionnaires to assess the distribution of orthorexia nervosa, muscle dysmorphia and eating disorders among university students: can different approaches lead to different results?Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2022Article
- Lifestyle-Related Risk Factors of Orthorexia Can Differ among the Students of Distinct University Courses.Nutrients · 2022Article
- The Effect of Bigorexia Nervosa on Eating Attitudes and Physical Activity: A Study on University Students.International journal of clinical practice · 2022Article
- Prevalence of Orthorexia Nervosa and Its Diagnostic Tools-A Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Traits of Orthorexia Nervosa and the Determinants of These Behaviors in Elite Athletes.Nutrients · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of traits of orthorexia nervosa (ON) and muscle dysmorphia (MD) in a group of undergraduates, investigate the associations between the risk of these conditions and the type of university course attended, the individual characteristics (gender, BMI, amount of physical activity, supplements and medicines use, dieting) and the risk of eating disorders (EDs).
methodsA self-reported questionnaire consisting of a socio-demographic section and three tests validated for the evaluation of a risk of ON (ORTO-15), MD (MDDI-ITA) and EDs (EAT-26) was completed by 918 students from three Italian universities.
results29.0% of participants demonstrated traits of ON and 5.0% of MD, without differences in prevalence in the three areas of study investigated (health-scientific, economic-humanistic, sport sciences); students of sport sciences exhibited a significantly higher score for MDDI-ITA (F = 6.493, p = 0.002). Participants with ON and MD traits were more on a diet (OR = 0.47, p ≤ 0.001 and OR = 0.428, p = 0.020, respectively) and showed a higher prevalence of EDs risk (OR = 3.55, p < 0.001 and OR = 10.23, p ≤ 0.001, respectively). The simultaneous presence of ON, MD, and EDs traits was seen in 5.4% of the students and the three test scores were correlated.
conclusionsThe prevalence of ON and MD traits was found similar to that reported in the literature on undergraduates. Some associations observed improvement in the knowledge about these conditions, especially the association of participants with ON and MD traits with dieting and EDs traits and the correlation of the three test scores suggests a connection among these potential conditions. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level V, descriptive cross-sectional survey.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.