Habits, Orthorexia Nervosa and LIfestyle in STudents

• Conditions: Health Behavior; Stress; Physical Activity; Habits; Diet Habit; Sleep
• Interventions: Other: lifestyle characteristics

• Registration Number: NCT04252924
• Lead Sponsor: University of Split, School of Medicine

Brief 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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2018-04-20
• Status Verified: 2020-01
• Study First Submitted: 2020-01-30
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-01-31
• Last Update Submitted: 2020-01-31
• Study First Posted: 2020-02-05
• Last Update Posted: 2020-02-05
• Primary Completion: 2021-04-20
• Study Completion: 2021-04-20

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 5000

Inclusion Criteria

1. students enrolled in any of the health-care related studies:

   • medical students
   • dental medicine students
   • pharmacy students
   • nursing students
   • physiotherapy students
   • dietetics/nutrition students
   • biomolecular science students
   • biomedical laboratory techniques students
   • psychology students

2. economy students

3. students of maritime sciences

Exclusion Criteria

• none

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
students	lifestyle characteristics	medical student, dental medicine student, pharmacy student, nursing student, physiotherapy student, dietetics student, kinesiology student, biomedical laboratory techniques student, biomolecular science student, psychology student, economy student, student of maritime sciences

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
stress level	1 day	Based on self-reported data using a questionnaire called Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; PubMed ID: 6668417). The scale has a minimum score of 0 and a maximum of 40, where higher score indicates higher perceived stress during last month.
the Mediterranean diet adherence	1 day	Based on the modern Mediterranean diet pyramid and assessed using the scoring system called Mediterranean Diet Serving Score (MDSS; PubMed ID: 26035442). This score has a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 24, where the higher score indicates a better compliance with the Mediterranean diet. Additionally, a cut-off point of 14 and more was proposed to indicate the good adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
moderate to vigorous level of physical activity	1 day	Based on self-reported data using a questionnaire called International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF; PubMed ID: 12900694). The MET-min (the metabolic equivalent of task) per week are calculated as: MET level x minutes of activity x events per week. Higher number of MET-min per week denotes higher level of physical activity (a better outcome). Details on the scoring protocol can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/theipaq/scoring-protocol
sleep duration	1 day	Based on self-reported data using a questionnaire (time of going to sleep and waking up)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Orthorexia nervosa	1 day	Based on self-reported data using the Orthorexia nervosa questionnaire (ORTO-15; PubMed ID: 16682853). ORTO-15 has a minimum score of 15 and a maximum of 60, where lower score denotes higher orthorexic symptoms, and the cut-off value of \<40 has been proposed to indicate higher probability for the presence of orthorexia.

Trial Locations

Locations (8)

Department of Economics, University of Foggia; 🇮🇹 Foggia, Italy

Universidad Pablo De Olavide; 🇪🇸 Sevilla, Spain

Ivana Kolcic; 🇭🇷 Split, Croatia

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine; 🇷🇴 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw; University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Katowice); 🇵🇱 Wroclaw, Poland

Koc University; 🇹🇷 Istanbul, Turkey

University of Pavia; 🇮🇹 Pavia, Italy

Beirut Arab University; 🇱🇧 Beirut, Lebanon