Eating disorder screening tools for athletes: A systematic review of literature focusing on scales developed in the last 10 years (2011–2021)

Eating disorders are a growing problem amongst athletes. This systematic review looks at the new eating disorder screening tools validated amongst athletes between 2011 and 2021 and their respective features. This systematic review was conducted with an online search for articles. Relevant keywords and Medical Subject Heading terms were used in three major search engines. The inclusion criteria were published literature that involved athletes, and the exclusion was papers without proper validation and scales not in English. Results were filtered, and articles were selected based on screening tools being validated for use amongst athletes. The results yielded 28,557 papers from the sources, and the final numbers of papers included were four. Results were tabulated, showing their reliability, validity, sensitivity, specificity and Receiver-Operator-Curve-Statistics (ROC). The review found suitable questionnaires were the Eating Disorder Screen for Athletes (EDSA) and the Disordered Eating Scale for Athletes-6 (DESA-6) questionnaires.