Binge eating symptoms prevalence and relationship with psychosocial factors among female undergraduate students at Palestine Polytechnic University: a cross-sectional study

Background Eating disorders pose a serious challenge to health services due to psychosocial and medical problems. Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized as a pattern of overeating episodes followed by shame, distress and guilty feelings. Among eating disorders, BED has the highest prevalence, especially among females. The literature reported that BED is associated with nutritional status, socio-demographic factors, and psychological factors in different countries. This study aims to examine the prevalence of binge eating symptoms and its relationship with selected variables (i.e. socio-demographics, nutritional status and dietary habits). Methods One hundred fifty-four female undergraduate students, from three different faculties at Palestine Polytechnic University, participated in the study. All the students who consented to join the study were assessed in terms of weight status using body mass index, dietary habits and medical profile. The screening for presence of binge eating symptoms was done using BEDS-7. The psychosocial factors were assessed by validated Arabic version of DASS-21. Results Half of the participants (50%) had binge eating symptoms. No association between binge eating symptoms and socio-demographic variables was found. Similarly, binge eating symptoms was not related to body weight status, however, it was associated with eating between meals and number of snacks. A significantly higher score on depression, stress and anxiety was found among binge eaters than non-binge eaters. Conclusion It was concluded that binge eating symptoms have considerable prevalence among the study participants, and it was significantly correlated with psychosocial factors. Future studies are needed to examine other risk factors and correlations. Educational programs are also recommended to increase the awareness of eating disorders as well as to promote healthy eating patterns.