title: Parental mental illness and eating disorders in offspring.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate which parental mental illnesses are associated with eating disorders in their offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from a record-linkage cohort study of 158,679 children aged 12-24 years at the end of follow-up, resident in Stockholm County from 2001 to 2007, to investigate whether different parental mental illnesses are risk factors for eating disorders in their offspring. The outcome measure was diagnosis of any eating disorder, either from an ICD or DSM-IV code, or inferred from an appointment at a specialist eating disorder clinic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mental illness in parents is a risk factor for eating disorders in female offspring (Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) 1.57 (95% CI 1.42, 1.92), p < 0.0001). Risk of eating disorders is increased if there is a parental diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder (AHR 2.28 (95% CI 1.39, 3.72), p = 0.004), personality disorder (AHR 1.57 (95% CI 1.01, 2.44), p = 0.043) or anxiety/depression (AHR 1.57 (95% CI 1.32, 1.86), p < 0.0001). There is a lack of statistical evidence for an association with parental schizophrenia (AHR 1.41 (95% CI 0.96, 2.07), p = 0.08), and somatoform disorder (AHR 1.25 (95% CI 0.74, 2.13), p = 0.40). There is no support for a relationship between parental substance misuse and eating disorders in children (AHR 1.08 (95% CI 0.82, 1.43), p = 0.57).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parental mental illness, specifically parental anxiety, depression, bipolar affective disorder, and personality disorders, are risk factors for eating disorders in their offspring.
authors: Centre for Academic Mental Health, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors: Helen
authors: H
authors: Bould
authors: Ilona
authors: I
authors: Koupil
authors: Christina
authors: C
authors: Dalman
authors: Bianca
authors: B
authors: DeStavola
authors: Glyn
authors: G
authors: Lewis
authors: Cecilia
authors: C
authors: Magnusson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders; D001714:Bipolar Disorder; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D010554:Personality Disorders; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: EDNOS; anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; child; eating disorders; mental illness; parent