Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is an obsessive-compulsive-related disorder causing clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning. The objective of this study was to assess the BDD symptoms and factors associated with BDD symptomatology among undergraduate students.
A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2019 to March 2020 in six different universities (3 private and 3 public) across Bangladesh. A total of 1204 undergraduate students were selected through the multistage sampling technique. The BDD-YBOCS tool was used to assess the BDD symptomatology.
Mild to moderate BDD symptoms was observed among 11.0 % participants, and 1.5 % had severe BDD symptoms. Around 58 % of participants had at least one body defect. Most embarrassments occurred due to acne (12.5 %), followed by thin hair (9.5 %) and scar marks (6.4 %). Males had significantly lower odds of having BDD symptomatology (OR = 0.394; 95%CI = 0.254–0.614) and Participants aged between 20 and 24 years had higher odds (OR = 4.639; 95%CI = 1.024–21.107). Studying in private universities had 1.7 times higher odds in comparison to the public universities (OR = 1.671, 95%CI = 1.052–2.656). Smokers were more prone to have BDD symptomatology than non-smokers (OR = 2.72; 95%CI = 1.571–4.709) and students who had body defects had higher odds (OR = 2.647; CI = 1.723–4.066) of BDD symptomatology.
The study has successfully revealed status and predictors of BDD symptomatology among university students. Further nationwide studies would be conducted to know the overall situation of Bangladesh.