title: A prospective study of effects of prenatal maternal stress on later eating-disorder manifestations in affected offspring: preliminary indications based on the Project Ice Storm cohort.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research associates maternal stress exposures (especially when occurring late in gestation) with heightened risk of subsequent emotional and behavioral problems in affected offspring. However, as yet, no study has examined the association between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and affected children's risk of anorexia- or bulimia-type eating disturbances.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the influences of PNMS on later disordered eating in exposed offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT)-26 to measure eating attitudes and behaviors in 54 thirteen-year olds whose mothers had been exposed, while pregnant with these children, to the 1998 Quebec Ice Storm-a natural disaster regarded as a model of exposure to severe environmental stress. Mothers' stress was measured shortly after exposure to the storm using established indices of objective and subjective stress.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses indicated that once variance owing to children's body mass index and sex was accounted for, stress exposures during the third trimester of pregnancy predicted elevated EAT-26 scores in affected children-perhaps even more so when levels of objective stress were high.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Third trimester exposure to PNMS, especially when objectively severe, seems to be associated with increased eating-disorder-linked manifestations in affected early adolescents.
authors: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.|Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Annie
authors: A
authors: St-Hilaire
authors: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.|Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.|Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Howard
authors: H
authors: Steiger
authors: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Aihua
authors: A
authors: Liu
authors: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: David P
authors: DP
authors: Laplante
authors: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.|Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Lea
authors: L
authors: Thaler
authors: Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Tara
authors: T
authors: Magill
authors: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.|Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Suzanne
authors: S
authors: King
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004190:Disasters; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011792:Quebec; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology
keywords: eating disorders; environmental stress; maladaptive eating; prenatal maternal stress; risk factors