About this Research Topic
Eating disorders (EDs) represent a challenge for public health because of their negative impact on individuals’ overall functionality, healthcare costs, caregivers’ burden, high rate of comorbidities, all of these being reflected in synthetic indicators like global disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) and quality-adjusted life year (QALY). Still, the current status of research on EDs can be considered paradoxical, because although there are a lot of epidemiological and clinical studies dedicated to the prevalence and risk factors for this pathology, data regarding the evidence-based treatments of EDs is scarce. Also, the existing information about health policies dedicated to early detection, prophylaxis, and treatment of EDs is extremely heterogeneous and inconsistent.
Therefore, this topic intends to collect new research in the field of psychological and somatic therapies of EDs, but also in the domain of health policies focused on anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorders, and other EDs with a less well-defined nosographic status, such as food addiction, orthorexia nervosa, emotional eating disorder, night eating syndrome, etc. Authors are encouraged to consider the following topics:
● Translation of available scientific data regarding the EDs into prophylaxis- and early intervention-focused public health policies;
● Health policies focused on the detection and treatment of EDs in vulnerable populations (adolescents, young adults, patients with psychiatric or medical disorders);
● The role of public health in addressing risk factors and comorbidity of EDs, especially for obesity, ultra-processed food addiction, binge eating disorders, and anorexia nervosa;
● Ultra-processed food addiction as a public health challenge- epidemiology, cultural diversity, social trends, health-related quality of life impact;
● Psychotherapeutic and pharmacological solutions for EDs;
● Epidemiological research on risk factors and protective factors in EDs;
● Analysis of EDs in relation to changes in the ideal self-image in the post-modernistic society;
● Social factors in the pathogenesis of EDs;
● New challenges for new times- the conceptualization of ultra-processed food addiction as a post-modern pathology within the ED spectrum.
Therefore, this topic intends to collect new research in the field of psychological and somatic therapies of EDs, but also in the domain of health policies focused on anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorders, and other EDs with a less well-defined nosographic status, such as food addiction, orthorexia nervosa, emotional eating disorder, night eating syndrome, etc. Authors are encouraged to consider the following topics:
● Translation of available scientific data regarding the EDs into prophylaxis- and early intervention-focused public health policies;
● Health policies focused on the detection and treatment of EDs in vulnerable populations (adolescents, young adults, patients with psychiatric or medical disorders);
● The role of public health in addressing risk factors and comorbidity of EDs, especially for obesity, ultra-processed food addiction, binge eating disorders, and anorexia nervosa;
● Ultra-processed food addiction as a public health challenge- epidemiology, cultural diversity, social trends, health-related quality of life impact;
● Psychotherapeutic and pharmacological solutions for EDs;
● Epidemiological research on risk factors and protective factors in EDs;
● Analysis of EDs in relation to changes in the ideal self-image in the post-modernistic society;
● Social factors in the pathogenesis of EDs;
● New challenges for new times- the conceptualization of ultra-processed food addiction as a post-modern pathology within the ED spectrum.
Keywords: eating disorders, EDs, nervosa, risk factors and protective factors in EDs, early detection of EDs, health policies
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