title: Maternal eating disorders influence sex ratio at birth.
abstract: We explored sex ratio at birth, defined as the proportion of male live births, in women with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorders not otherwise specified-purging type (EDNOS-P) relative to a referent group in a large population-based sample of 38,340 pregnant women in Norway. Poisson regressions were adjusted for mother's age, pre-pregnancy BMI, lifetime smoking status, maternal education, income, marital status, gestational age, and parity. Lower proportions of male live births were observed in the anorexia and bulimia groups, while binge eating disorder and EDNOS-P were associated with a higher proportion of male births. These data suggest that maternal eating disorders may influence offspring sex and that the direction of effect may vary by eating disorder subtype. If confirmed, this finding could provide evidence in formulating hypotheses regarding the consequences of eating disorders and determinants of sex ratio at birth.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. cbulik@med.unc.edu
authors: Cynthia M
authors: CM
authors: Bulik
authors: Ann Von
authors: AV
authors: Holle
authors: Kelly
authors: K
authors: Gendall
authors: Kari Kveim
authors: KK
authors: Lie
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Hoffman
authors: Xiaofei
authors: X
authors: Mo
authors: Leila
authors: L
authors: Torgersen
authors: Ted
authors: T
authors: Reichborn-Kjennerud
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012744:Sex Ratio; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires