Detection of eating disorders in 16-20 year old female students - perspective from Islamabad, Pakistan

There are no studies on eating disorders in Pakistani adolescent girls. This study was conducted to determine the opinions, and behaviours pertaining to dieting and body size among 16 to 20 year old female school and college students in Islamabad, Pakistan. This was done through a five-item questionnaire to determine the SCOFF score. The SCOFF acronym has been derived from S from the word sick in question number 1. C from the word control in question number 2. The O comes from the word one in the original question number 3; this original question number 3 of the SCOFF asks about having lost more than one stone weight in the past three months. This question was rephrased to read as whether more than 15 pounds or 6 kilogrammes have been lost. The two F s come from questions number 4 and 5 denoting words fat and food, respectively. A total of 1,134 female students participated in the study and 736 (64.9%) respondents scored two or higher on the SCOFF scale; 461 (66.5%) out of 693 were aged 16 to 18, while 275 (62.4%) out of 441 were aged 19 to 20. Results indicated a need for developing clinical practice guidelines for general practitioners and paediatricians to proactively identify and treat potential eating disorders in young Pakistani women.