Primal Health Databank: Study
| Entry No: | 0576 |
| Title: | Perinatal Factors and the Risk of Developing Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa |
| Author(s): | Angela Favaro, MD, PhD, MSc; Elena Tenconi, PhD; Paolo Santonastaso, MD |
| Reference: | Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:82-88 |
| Place of Study: | Italy |
| Abstract: | The objective was to explore the role of obstetric complications in the development of eating disorders.
A blind analysis of the obstetric records of a sample of subjects with anorexia nervosa, with bulimia nervosa, and normal subjects was performed. All subjects included in the study belong to the same population birth cohort and were born in the 2 obstetric wards of Padua Hospital, Padua, Italy, between January 17, 1971, and December 30, 1979.
Part of the sample of subjects with eating disorders and all the controls took part in a prevalence study carried out in 2 randomly selected areas of Padua. In addition, all the subjects with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa of the same birth cohort who were referred to an outpatient specialist unit were included. The final sample comprised 114 subjects with anorexia nervosa, 73 with bulimia nervosa, and 554 control subjects.
Several complications, such as maternal anemia (P = .03), diabetes mellitus (P = .04), preeclampsia (P = .02), placental infarction (P = .001), neonatal cardiac problems (P = .007), and hyporeactivity (P = .03), were significant independent predictors of the development of anorexia nervosa. The risk of developing anorexia nervosa increased with the total number of obstetric complications. In addition, an increasing number of complications significantly anticipated the age at onset of anorexia nervosa (P = .03). The obstetric complications significantly associated with bulimia nervosa were: placental infarction (P = .10), neonatal hyporeactivity (P = .005), early eating difficulties (P = .02), and a low birth weight for gestational age (P = .009). Being shorter for gestational age significantly differentiated subjects with bulimia nervosa from both those with anorexia nervosa (P = .04) and control subjects (P = .05).
Conclusions: A significantly higher risk of eating disorders was found for subjects with specific types of obstetric complications. An impairment in neurodevelopment could be implicated in the pathogenesis of eating disorders.
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| Keyword(s): | Anorexia nervosa, birth complications, bulimia, Eating disorders |
| Discussion: | No discussion mentioned for this entry |
| See Also: | No related entries mentioned for this entry |
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