A risk profile of compulsive exercise in adolescents with an eating disorder: a systematic review

This review aims to critically examine and summarise the existing research that has studied the prevalence and psychopathological correlates of compulsive exercise in adolescents with eating disorders. A systematic electronic database search (PsycINFO, Medline, and Web of Science) of published studies was completed in May 2013. A search strategy was developed to identify all studies of adolescents with eating disorders, in which the prevalence and/or psychological correlates of compulsive exercise had been formally assessed through clinical interview or reliable and valid clinical measures. A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria for the review, of which 10 studies provided comparable prevalence estimates and 4 studies identified psychopathological correlates of compulsive exercise. For the relevant data, the prevalence of compulsive exercise in adolescents with eating disorders ranged from 16.7% to 85.3%. There is some evidence to suggest that compulsive exercise is associated with increased eating disorder symptomology and anxiety; however, other relationships remain unclear with studies producing disparate results. The results from the studies reviewed suggest that compulsive exercise is an evident problem within adolescent eating disorders; however, the specific psychopathological risks associated with this behaviour cannot be reliably summarised.