Body uneasiness in overweight and obese Italian women seeking weight-loss treatment

Abstract

Objective: It is known that the psychopathology of eating disorders is associated with body image disturbances, but little is known concerning the body image of obese subjects. The aim of this study was to assess body uneasiness in overweight and obese women in relation to their age, degree of obesity, the percentage and distribution of body fat mass, and eating disordered behaviours.

Method: The study population consisted of 99 overweight and obese women with a mean age of 34.3 +/- 10.1 years and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 31.3 +/- 5.4 kg/m2, who completed two self-report questionnaires: the Bulimic Investigation Test Edinburgh (BITE) to assess disordered eating behaviours and the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) to assess body image uneasiness. Pearson correlations were used to determine the associations between the BUT scores and age, anthropometric measures (BMI, waist and hip circumferences, waist/hip ratio, percentage of body fat mass) and the BITE scores. The most significant determinants of the BUT scores were also determined using a multiple linear regression model.

Results: Disordered eating behaviours were found in 7.1% of the patients. Neither BUT nor BITE scores correlated with age, but BITE scores correlated with BMI and hip circumference (p < 0.05). The overall BUT score increased with increasing BITE scores and higher indices of all of the anthropometric measures (p < 0.001) except for the percentage of body fat mass. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that, among the considered parameters, the only significant determinants of body uneasiness were disordered eating behaviours.

Conclusions: Our results confirm that body uneasiness in an obese clinical population is closely associated with disordered eating behaviours, and suggest that it is not dependent on age, the degree of obesity, or the percentage or distribution of body fat mass.