Weight-for-length trajectories in the first year of life in children of mothers with eating disorders in a large Norwegian Cohort.
OBJECTIVE
To describe weight-for-length (WFL) trajectories in the children (birth-12 months) of mothers with and without eating disorders.


METHODS
This study is based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. We categorized women (N = 57,185) based on diagnosis prior to and during pregnancy: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorder not otherwise specified-purging subtype, binge eating disorder, or no eating disorder. The primary analysis included a shape invariant model fitted with nonlinear mixed effects to compare growth rates across eating disorder subtypes.


RESULTS
The children of mothers reporting any eating disorder had a lower WFL growth rate from birth to 12 months than the children of mothers without eating disorders, even after adjusting for relative birth weight and some confounders known to affect growth.


CONCLUSIONS
In this cohort, child WFL was related to maternal eating disorder status before and/or during pregnancy. These differences in growth trajectories warrant further study of long-term health outcomes and, if replicated, tailoring counseling to mothers with eating disorders during pregnancy.
Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Eliana M
EM
Perrin
Ann
A
Von Holle
Stephanie
S
Zerwas
Asheley Cockrell
AC
Skinner
Lauren
L
Reba-Harrelson
Robert M
RM
Hamer
Camilla
C
Stoltenberg
Leila
L
Torgersen
Ted
T
Reichborn-Kjennerud
Cynthia M
CM
Bulik
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000503:physiopathology; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000503:physiopathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000503:physiopathology*
anorexia nervosa; binge eating disorder; breast feeding; bulimia nervosa; eating disorders; growth; obesity; pediatrics; pregnancy; weight-for-length