Natural science approach to eating disorders in women - Essay Example

ANALYSIS OF EATING DISORDERS IN WOMEN goes here] [Your goes here] [Due the paper] Eating Disorders in Women Analysis ofthe Article:It is widely known that eating disorders is usually more common in young women who are either in their late adolescence age or in early adulthood age as compared to elder women. The fact becomes even more serious and worth considering when we study the link between diabetes and increased risk of eating disorders. It is important to know whether young females with type 1 diabetes tend to have more eating disorders as compared to those with no signs of diabetes.

Therefore, the purpose of the researchers in this particular study was to study whether the risk of eating disorders is associated more with diabetic or non-diabetic adolescent females. The researchers hypothesized that type 1 diabetic adolescent females are more prone to eating disorders than their non-diabetic counterparts.In the article, ‘Eating Disorders in Adolescent Females with and Without Type 1 Diabetes: Cross Sectional Study’, by Jennifer Jones, Margaret Lawson, Denis Daneman, Marion Olmsted, and Gary Rodin, the researchers have explored the prevalence of eating disorders in women with type 1 diabetes by comparing it to non-diabetic women using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as the main measure of outcome.

The researchers have made use of cross sectional case-control research design to explore the facts. The settings selected for research included diabetic institutes of three cities of Canada, whereas the age group selected by the researchers for this study was the adolescent females of 12 to 19 years. Subjects for the study were taken from diabetic clinics of Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton, whereas controls were selected from the junior high and high schools of these cities.The researchers were able to get 361 responses from the subjects and 1840 responses from the control group.

The results of the study showed that DSM-IV criteria-based eating disorders had more presence and risk of occurrence in diabetic adolescent subjects as compared to non-diabetic adolescent controls. Similarly, sub-threshold eating disorders showed more presence in diabetic subjects than in non-diabetic controls. “DSM-IV and subthreshold eating disorders are almost twice as common in adolescent females with type 1 diabetes as in their non-diabetic peers” (Jones, Lawson, Daneman, Olmsted, & Rodin, 2000, p. 1563). As far as the hemoglobin concentration is concerned, the results showed that it was also higher in diabetic females as compared to non-diabetic research participants.

Such an association may also lead to an increase in the micro-vascular complications risk in diabetic young women. Other results showed the association of less dieting for weight loss more with diabetic females than in non-diabetic ones. A large number of diabetic females reported insulin omission, a purging DSM-IV behavior, as a common and feasible weight loss method. The researchers have suggested the use of clinical interventions as a way to improve eating behaviors of diabetic young females.

As far as the limitations of the study are concerned, a couple of limitations exist in the study. The first one is that of selection bias despite of having a large percentage of research participants both in diabetes and control groups. Second limitation is that of selection of control research participants mainly from the upper socio-economic population. Although no apparent connection exists between eating disorders and socio-economic class of research participants, yet the issue of bias cannot be excluded after selecting majority of participants from any particular class.

ReferencesJones, J., Lawson, M., Daneman, D., Olmsted, M., & Rodin, G. (2000). Eating Disorders in Adolescent Females with and Without Type 1 Diabetes: Cross Sectional Study. BMJ, 320(7249), 1563-1566.