Fight Medicine Research Institute

Version of recordOriginal research

Mental health, eating disorder risk, and disordered eating patterns among Lebanese National Taekwondo Players

A cross-sectional study

Maha Hoteit, Hassan Karaki, Amal Haidar, Rana Baroud, Habib Zarifeh, Ayoub Saidi, Fadi Kibbeh, Nathalie Jbeily, Zahra Sadek. 2025. PLOS One.

Published in PLOS One, a peer-reviewed journal

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0331975

Read the full textPDF filesPubMed 41052051

The medical question

Which mental-health needs require better recognition and support for fighters?

The Fight Medicine Research Institute uses this evidence to frame questions about a fighter’s psychological health, disordered eating and access to support. The study’s population and assessment methods determine which questions it can inform.

Summary

In a one-time survey of 110 Lebanese black-belt taekwondo players and coaches, 33.6% screened positive for disordered eating, and positive screens for anxiety, depression and other mental health symptoms were associated with it.

What the work reports

  • From January to July 2023, 110 Lebanese black-belt taekwondo players and coaches completed a self-administered questionnaire that included the Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool 1 (SMHAT-1) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26).
  • On the SMHAT-1 screens, 14.5% were at or above the threshold for anxiety, 13.6% for depression, 24.5% for sleep disturbance and 33.6% for disordered eating; on the EAT-26, 15.5% were at risk of an eating disorder. Positive screens for anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, alcohol misuse and ADHD symptoms were associated with disordered eating.
  • The authors conclude that mental health indicators were connected with eating disorder risk and disordered eating in these athletes, and they call for support that combines psychological and nutritional care.

Limits to keep in mind

  • The study was cross-sectional: everything was measured once, so it shows association and cannot show cause.
  • Answers were self-reported on screening questionnaires, and the authors note that no clinical diagnosis was made to confirm the positive screens.
  • Participants were a convenience sample of black-belt athletes, and the authors note that the findings may not carry over to lower-level or recreational taekwondo practitioners.
  • Odds ratios from the regression models have wide confidence intervals, for example 1.3 to 100 for psychosis risk and eating disorder risk.

Source issues recorded

  • The abstract and section 4.1 of the discussion describe reduced income as linked to higher eating disorder risk. Table 2, the regression model in Table 4 and section 4.4 show the opposite: 9.5% of athletes with reduced income were at risk, against 27.8% of those without (odds ratio 0.11). This record follows the tables.
  • Table 1 lists 12 participants who trained more than 10 hours a week. Table 2 analyses 29 participants in that group. This record gives no figures for that comparison.

Publication status and notices

Published in PLOS One, a peer-reviewed journal. Original research article in PLOS One.

Form of this work: Version of record. The version of record is the final article as issued by its publisher.

No correction or retraction notice was found in Crossref or Europe PMC when this record was checked.

Fight Medicine Research Institute contribution

Fight Medicine Research Institute selected and catalogued this study, prepared an original research summary and a narrative review, verified its bibliographic details, and maintains the associated citation record. It holds an unmodified copy of the published article under the article’s licence.

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Article details

Relationship
External research catalogued by the Fight Medicine Research Institute. The original authors, journal and DOI are unchanged.
Published online
6 October 2025
Repository date
6 October 2025 (Europe PMC first-publication date)
Date used here
6 October 2025 (Crossref publisher deposit, online publication date)
Rights
CC BY 4.0. Open access under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), as stated by the publisher. The summary on this page is Fight Medicine Research Institute’s own wording. An unmodified copy of the published article is held on this website under this licence. Licence terms.
Source check
, against PubMed Central full text, Crossref and Europe PMC. Checked under the direction of Casey C. Sears, Founder. An LLM was utilized as a research tool with direct human oversight.
Appraisal
The check covered bibliographic details, links, licence and notices. It is not a formal critical appraisal of the full paper.
Clinical review
None. This record is a research summary, not clinical education.
Funding and conflicts
The article states that the authors received no specific funding for this work and declared that no competing interests exist.
Catalog
FH-036, added

Cite the original work

These files cite the work by its own authors, journal and DOI. Fight Medicine Research Institute appears only in a note, as curator of this catalog page.

Maha Hoteit, Hassan Karaki, Amal Haidar, Rana Baroud, Habib Zarifeh, Ayoub Saidi, et al.. Mental health, eating disorder risk, and disordered eating patterns among Lebanese National Taekwondo Players: A cross-sectional study. PLOS One. 2025;20(10):e0331975. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0331975

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