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Disordered eating as a repercussion of sexual assault: a consequence to consider

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims at clarifying the links between sexual violence and disordered eating (DE).

Methods

In a sample of 12,638 victims of self-reported sexual violence, we analyzed the situation of 546 victims that declared having developed DE. We assessed the characteristics of the assault (age, type of aggression) and the medical consequences (PTSD, depression, suicide attempts, anxiety disorders, etc.).

Results

DE prevalence was 4.3% in the victim sample. The age of the first assault in DE victims was significantly lower than that of the whole population (12 years vs 16 years for median; p < 0.001). A much higher prevalence of sexual assault consequences was present in victims developing DE with odd ratios (OR) for: self-mutilation (OR = 11.5 [8.29–15.95], p < 0.001); depression (OR = 5.7 [4.81–6.86], p < 0.001); self-medication (OR = 5.3 [3.86–7.19], p < 0.001); suicide attempts (OR = 4.5 [3.59–5.67], p < 0.001); post-traumatic stress disorder (OR = 3.8 [2.99–4.78], p < 0.001); anxiety troubles (OR = 5.2 [4.11–6.47], p < 0.001); alcoholism (OR = 4.0 [2.81–5.58], p < 0.001).

Conclusion

This study confirms the link between DE and sexual violence, especially in childhood, leading to severe psychological consequences. In this context, DE should be envisaged as a coping strategy accompanying emotional dysregulation due to traumatic events, and be treated as such.

Level of evidence

Level IV: Evidence obtained from multiple time series analysis such as case studies.

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Data availability

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Code availability

N/A.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Gabriela Bravo and the whole team of Collectif Féministe Contre le Viol for providing the data for this study and Sylvie Ricord for linguistic assistance.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sexologist in Puteaux, Puteaux, France

    Aurore Malet-Karas

  2. Association “Le Regard du Miroir”, 5 Boulevard Foch BP 62732, 51100, Reims, France

    Delphine Bernard

  3. Association “Collectif féministe contre le viol (CFCV)”, Paris, France

    Emmanuelle Piet

  4. Clinical Nutrition Transversal Unit (UTNC) of Reims University Hospital and Performance, Health, Metrology, Society Laboratory (PSMS, EA 7507) of Reims Champagne-Ardenne University, Reims, France

    Eric Bertin

  5. Hôpital Robert Debré, Unité 63 Nutrition, 45 rue Cognacq Jay, 51092, Reims, France

    Eric Bertin

Authors
  1. Aurore Malet-Karas
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  2. Delphine Bernard
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  3. Emmanuelle Piet
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  4. Eric Bertin
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Contributions

Study initiation: DB-W; provision of data: EP (president of the non-profit organization “Collectif Féministe Contre le Viol”); study design: AM-K, DB-W, and EB; analysis: AM-K; writing the manuscript and critical comments to the drafts: AM-K and EB. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Bertin.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report none conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. As the calls to hotline are fully anonymous and the name of the victims is neither asked nor written, no approval by a specific ethical committee was required (in accordance with the EU regulation 2016/679, article 9 2.j of the General Data Protection Regulation).

Consent to participate

N/A (the calls from the victims are spontaneous and free, their phone number is not visible to the listeners, and no additional collection of data was needed for this study).

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N/A.

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Malet-Karas, A., Bernard, D., Piet, E. et al. Disordered eating as a repercussion of sexual assault: a consequence to consider. Eat Weight Disord 27, 2095–2106 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01356-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01356-5

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