Habits, Orthorexia Nervosa and LIfestyle in STudents

Summary

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) compose a substantial proportion of the global burden of diseases, posing a significant challenge in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries. In particular, certain lifestyle-related risk factors, such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and sleep deprivation are the leading risk factors, which place people at an increased risk of developing NCDs. On the other hand, a growing phenomenon of excessive concern about diet and health is emerging, and it is contributing to the development of a novel eating behavior disorder named orthorexia nervosa. According to recent studies, orthorexic behavior is very common among young adults and especially so in health-care professionals.

The main objective of this multi-center study is to explore and compare lifestyle habits among undergraduate medical students and other healthcare-related professions from different countries (Croatia, Lebanon, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Turkey). The goal is to obtain information on the presence of unhealthy habits in order to be able to intervene, offering the information needed for primordial disease prevention in this young and still healthy group of respondents, who are the health educators and role models of the future. The particular importance of this goal is to raise awareness of the problem of the ubiquitously present unhealthy lifestyles. Unfortunately, health-care students are not the exception regarding the prevalence of the unhealthy diet, sedentary behavior, sleep deprivation and high levels of psychological stress. Furthermore, the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle patterns in health-care workers, such as doctors and nurses, will have far-reaching negative consequences, in both their health and their patients' health. The results of this study will be used for identifying the needs and targets for intervention, enabling students to become a pillar of health education for their patients and the population in general.

Conditions

• Habits
• Health Behavior
• Diet Habit
• Sleep
• Stress
• Physical Activity

Interventions

OTHER

lifestyle characteristics

Exposures of interest: Mediterranean diet, orthorexia nervosa, smoking, physical activity, sleep duration, stress level

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Pavia

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Foggia

  collaborator OTHER

• Beirut Arab University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Wroclaw

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Universidad Pablo de Olavide

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Split, School of Medicine

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ivana Kolcic, Assoc. Prof. · University of Split, School of Medicine

Eligibility

Min Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-04-20

Primary Completion

2021-04-20

Completion

2021-04-20

Countries

• Croatia
• Italy
• Lebanon
• Poland
• Romania
• Spain
• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations