To examine diet quality and diet-related factors among male adults of reproductive age with and without disabilities.

Cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2013–2018.

Disability was reported as serious difficulty hearing, seeing, concentrating, walking, dressing and/or running errands due to physical, mental or emotional conditions. Diet quality was assessed by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015 and diet-related factors included self-rated diet healthfulness, food security and food assistance programmes. Multivariable linear regression estimated differences in HEI-2015 scores. Multivariable Poisson regression estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) and 95 % CI for diet-related factors.

In total, 3249 males, 18–44 years; of whom, 441 (13·4 %) reported having disabilities.

Compared with males without disabilities, those with disabilities had a 2·69-point (95 % CI: –4·18, –1·20) lower mean total HEI-2015 score and approximately one-third to half of a point lower HEI-2015 component scores for greens and beans, total protein foods, seafood and plant proteins, fatty acids and added sugars. Males with any disabilities were more likely to have low food security (aPR = 1·57; 95 % CI: 1·28, 2·92); household participation in food assistance programmes (aPR = 1·61; 95 % CI: 1·34, 1·93) and consume fast food meals during the previous week (1–3 meals: aPR = 1·11; 95 % CI: 1·01–1·21 and 4 or more meals: aPR = 1·18; 95 % CI: 1·01–1·38) compared with males with no disabilities.

Factors affecting diet and other modifiable health behaviours among male adults of reproductive age with disabilities require further investigation. Health promotion strategies that are adaptive to diverse populations within the disability community are needed.

Evidence from various sources suggests that females with schizophrenia tend to report lower quality of life than males with schizophrenia despite having a less severe course of the disorder. However, studies have not examined this directly.

To examine gender differences in the association between quality of life and the risk of subsequent psychiatric hospital admissions in a national sample with schizophrenia.

The sample consisted of 989 (60.90%) males and 635 (39.10%) females with an ICD-10 diagnosis of schizophrenia. Quality of life was assessed and scored using the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life. The course of schizophrenia was assessed from the number of psychiatric hospital admissions. Participants completed the quality of life assessment and were then followed up for 18-months for subsequent psychiatric admissions. Hazard ratios (HR) from Cox proportional hazards regression models were estimated unadjusted and adjusted for covariates (age at schizophrenia onset and birth year). Analyses were computed for males and females separately, as well as for the entire cohort.

A subsample of 93 males and 55 females was admitted to a psychiatric hospital during follow-up. Higher quality of life scores were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with a reduced risk of subsequent admissions among males (unadjusted: HR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.93–0.99; adjusted HR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.93–0.99) but not among females (unadjusted: HR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.93–1.02; adjusted HR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.93–1.02).

Quality of life in schizophrenia is a gender-specific construct and should be considered as such in clinical practice and future research.

Previous research has highlighted the importance of understanding which psychosocial factors distinguish between those with suicide thoughts compared to those who attempt suicide. This study aims to investigate these distinguishing factors further within an ideation-to-action framework and to explore sex differences in suicide risk.

Participants (n = 7546, aged 16+) were from the cross-sectional Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS; 2014) of England. Face-to-face and self-completion questionnaires assessed lifetime suicidal ideation, lifetime suicide attempts, demographic characteristics, life experiences, social support, health and mental illness. Multinomial logistic regression examined factors differentiating between those with suicidal ideation only and suicide attempt histories (with or without suicidal ideation) in men and women.

Overall men were less likely to report suicidal thoughts and attempts, compared to females. More factors differentiated between suicidal thoughts and attempts in women compared to in men; these included hospital admission for mental illness, below degree level qualifications, being single and childhood adversity. In men, factors which significantly differentiated between suicidal thoughts and attempts included self-report of professional diagnosis of mental illness and childhood adversity. Higher levels of social support were associated with being in the suicidal thoughts group v. in the attempts group in men.

This study identified some key differences between men and women in factors associated with suicide attempts compared to suicidal thoughts. The findings support the use of the ideation-to-action framework to investigate sex differences in suicidal behaviour. Future research should examine the extent to which these factors are associated with suicide risk over time.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) introduced severity indices for Eating Disorders (ED).

This study assessed in a male ED sample the DSM-5 severity indices for Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and compared them to an alternative transdiagnostic drive for thinness (DT) severity category and a combined DSM-5/DT severity categorization

178 males with EDs were classified using: a.) a DT categorisation based on the EDI-2 DT subscale; b.) the DSM-5 severity categories for AN, BN and BED and c.) a combination of the DT and the DSM-5 severity categorisation. These severity classifications were then compared based on psychopathology and personality.

For the DSM-5 severity indices, the “mild” category was most prevalent for AN and BN, and the “moderate to extreme” group for BED. For the EDI-2 DT severity classification, the “mild” category was overrepresented in all subtypes. For the combined DSM-5/DT categorization, the “mild combined” severity group was the most prevalent for AN, while for BN and BED the “severe/extreme” combined group was most prevalent. Clinically significant findings were strongest for the DT categorization followed by the combined DSM-5/DT approach. Almost non-significant findings were revealed for the DSM-5 severity categories for all ED subtypes. These findings were most pronounced for AN and BN and almost non-existent for BED.

Our findings provide support for DT as an alternative transdiagnostic severity category for EDs in males that may be more meaningful than the DSM-5 severity indices for AN and BN, but not BED.

No significant relationships.

Although the epidemiology of Eating Disorders (ED) has been highly developed in Spain, further research considering false negatives and also the prevalence of these disorders in males are needed. They were the aims of the present study.

One thousand and seventy six adolescents (500 males and 576 females) participated in a two-stage survey. At the age of 13, apart from exploring numerous clinical and psychosocial variables, they were assessed by means of self-administered screening instruments, the eating attitude test (EAT), bulimic investigatory test Edinburgh (BITE), and body shape questionnaire (BSQ). The subjects were interviewed again 2 years later. Afterwards, 159 probable cases and 150 controls were interviewed by means of the structured interview SCAN.

Prevalence of ED in adolescents was 3.71% (95% CI 2.58–4.83; 6.4% of females, 0.6% of males): anorexia nervosa 0.1%, bulimia nervosa 0.75%, eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) = 2.88%. The rate of false negative was 2.6% of the control group and most of them were EDNOS.

The prevalence of ED obtained in our study, higher than others found in previous Spanish research, and a relatively high percentage of false negatives both indicate that up to now the prevalence of ED in Spanish adolescents could be underestimated.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric disorder with high mortality.

A retrospective register study of 609 males who received hospitalized care for AN in Sweden between 1973 and 2010 was performed. The standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and Cox regression-derived hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated as measures of mortality. The incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated to compare the mortality rates in patients with AN and controls both with and without psychiatric diagnoses.

The SMR for all causes of death was 4.1 [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.1–5.3]. For those patients with psychiatric co-morbidities, the SMR for all causes of death was 9.1 (95% CI 6.6–12.2), and for those without psychiatric co-morbidity, the SMR was 1.6 (95% CI 0.9–2.7). For the group of patients with alcohol use disorder, the SMR for natural causes of death was 11.5 (95% CI 5.0–22.7), and that for unnatural causes was 35.5 (95% CI 17.7–63.5). The HRs confirmed the increased mortality for AN patients with psychiatric co-morbidities, even after adjusting for confounders. The IRRs revealed no significant difference in mortality patterns between the AN patients with psychiatric co-morbidity and the controls with psychiatric diagnoses, with the exceptions of alcohol use disorder and neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders, which seemed to confer a negative synergistic effect on mortality.

Mortality in male AN patients was significantly elevated compared with the general population among only the patients with psychiatric co-morbidities. Specifically, the presence of alcohol and other substance use disorders was associated with more profound excess mortality.

Testosterone may be a biological factor that protects males against eating disorders. Elevated prenatal testosterone exposure is linked to lower levels of disordered eating symptoms, but effects emerge only after mid-puberty. Whether circulating levels of testosterone account for decreased risk for disordered eating in boys after mid-puberty is currently unknown; however, animal data support this possibility. In rodents, prenatal testosterone's masculinizing effects on sex-differentiated behaviors emerge during puberty when circulating levels of testosterone increase and ‘activate’ the expression of masculinized phenotypes. This study investigated whether higher levels of circulating testosterone predict lower levels of disordered eating symptoms in adolescent boys, and in particular whether effects are associated with advancing pubertal maturation.

Participants were 213 male twins from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. The Minnesota Eating Behavior Survey and Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire assessed several disordered eating symptoms. The Pubertal Development Scale assessed pubertal status. Afternoon saliva samples were assayed for testosterone using enzyme immunoassays.

Consistent with animal data, higher levels of circulating testosterone predicted lower levels of disordered eating symptoms in adolescent boys and effects emerged with advancing puberty. Results were not accounted for by several important covariates, including age, adiposity, or mood/anxiety symptoms.

Findings suggest that elevated circulating testosterone may be protective and underlie decreased risk for eating pathology in males during/after puberty, whereas lower levels of testosterone may increase risk and explain why some, albeit relatively few, males develop eating disorders.

Differences in genetic influences on disordered eating are present across puberty in girls. Heritability is 0% before puberty, but over 50% during and after puberty. Emerging data suggest that these developmental differences may be due to pubertal increases in ovarian hormones. However, a critical piece of evidence is lacking, namely, knowledge of genetic influences on disordered eating across puberty in boys. Boys do not experience increases in ovarian hormones during puberty. Thus, if pubertal increases in genetic effects are present in boys, then factors in addition to ovarian hormones may drive increases in heritability in girls. The current study was the first to examine this possibility in a sample of 1006 male and female twins from the Michigan State University Twin Registry.

Disordered eating was assessed with the Minnesota Eating Behavior Survey. Pubertal development was assessed with the Pubertal Development Scale.

No significant differences in genetic influences on disordered eating were observed in males across any developmental stage. Heritability was 51% in boys during pre-puberty, puberty and young adulthood. By contrast, in girls, genetic factors accounted for 0% of the variance in pre-puberty, but 51% of the variance during puberty and beyond. Sex differences in genetic effects were only significant during pre-puberty, as the best-fitting models constrained heritability to be equal across all males, pubertal females and young adult females.

The results highlight sex-specific effects of puberty on genetic risk for disordered eating and provide indirect evidence of a role for ovarian hormones and/or other female-specific factors.