Prevalencia de riesgo de trastornos de comportamiento alimentario en una población femenina de estudiantes de secundaria, Manizales, Colombia, 2011

objective: determining the presence of eating behavior disorders (ebd) as a high risk factor (positive or negative) according to the edi-2 questionnaire and associated factors in three schoolgirl populations in the city of manizales, colombia. materials and methods: this was cross-sectional study in which students from three private all-girls schools in the city of manizales filled in the eating disorder inventory (edi-2) questionnaire. the inclusion criteria involved being in the 8th, 9th, 10thor 11th grades (i.e. aged around 14-19). informed consent forms were signed. . sample size was 481 students; schools and students were probabilistically sampled and stratified by institution and grade. the variables measured were sociodemographic; family apgar and anthropometric measurements were taken. the edi-2 subscales used were: drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, perfectionism, interpersonal distrust, introspective awareness, fear of maturity, asceticism, regulation of impulsiveness and social insecurity. the result was expressed as a risk factor for positive or negative eating behavior disorders; this was positive if the drive for thinness subscale had a value greater than 14. analysis involved measures of central tendency and dispersion for continuous variables and percentages for categorical variables. results: it was found that 24.7% of the study population had a positive risk factor for developing ebd according to the edi-2 questionnaire. the following factors were found to be associated with an ebd: alcohol consumption (p=0.002), a family background of ebd (p=0.000), perception of being overweight (p=0.000), family functionality (p=0.000), body mass index (p=0.032) and practically all the anthropometric measurements, except size. conclusions: the prevalence of risk factors for eating behavior disorders detected in this study showed that ebd continues to be a serious problem in female colombian adolescents.