Musicians have high prevalence of eating disorders, study finds

They may live for the limelight and the call of their muse, but musicians may also be prone to eating disorders, according to new research. A study of active musicians - including amateurs, students, professionals, and retired musicians - has found that they may have a high prevalence of food-related disorders, which could be explained by a combination of personality traits and the demands of the job. According to the researchers, the apparent prevalence of eating disorders seen in musicians "could be due to their increased levels of perfectionism", and the findings could help doctors to look for warning signs among a subset of patients. In the study , published this month in the journal Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, researchers gave questionnaires to 301 self-reported musicians, focusing on their physical and mental health. Striving for perfection. Over the course of 28 questions participants divulged key information about how anxious or depressed they were, their physical health and if they had ever suffered from a clinically diagnosable eating disorder. The musicians performed across a broad range of musical genres - including jazz, hip hop, folk and rock - but the majority (85%) were classical musicians.