Childhood eating and weight in eating disorders: a multi-centre European study of affected women and their unaffected sisters.
BACKGROUND
Previous studies have suggested that childhood eating and weight problems may be risk factors for eating disorders. Robust evidence is still lacking.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether childhood eating and weight problems increase the risk of eating disorders in affected women compared to their unaffected sisters.


METHODS
Women (150) with anorexia (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) recruited from clinical and community samples were compared to their unaffected sister closest in age on maternal reports of childhood eating and weight.


RESULTS
Women with BN were significantly more overweight at the ages of 5 and 10 (both OR = 2.8, p < 0.01), ate a lot (OR = 1.3, p < 0.01), were less picky (OR = 0.6, p < 0.05) and ate quickly (OR = 2.3, p < 0.05) between the ages of 6 and 10 compared to their healthy sisters. Significantly more women with AN were described as having a higher weight at 6 months (OR = 0.8, p < 0.01) and 1 year (OR = 0.6, p < 0.01) compared to their healthy sisters. Childhood eating was comparable in the women with AN and their unaffected sisters.


CONCLUSIONS
Traits of childhood overeating were more common in bulimic women compared to their unaffected siblings. Subjects with AN did not differ from their sisters on eating variables. The increased risk of BN due to childhood overweight suggests that prevention strategies for childhood obesity and overweight may therefore be applicable in BN.
Micali
N
N
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Eating Disorders Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK. n.micali@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Holliday
J
J
Karwautz
A
A
Haidvogl
M
M
Wagner
G
G
Fernandez-Aranda
F
F
Badia
A
A
Gimenez
L
L
Solano
R
R
Brecelj-Anderluh
M
M
Mohan
R
R
Collier
D
D
Treasure
J L
JL
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019959:Feeding and Eating Disorders of Childhood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012307:Risk Factors; D035781:Siblings; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D013223:Statistics as Topic