Eating disorder that was diagnosed before pregnancy and pregnancy outcome☆
Section snippets
Population and methods
The study was a historic prospective follow-up study. Data were obtained from the Danish Database for Psychiatric Epidemiological Research,14 which links two national health registers: the Danish Medical Birth Register and the Danish Psychiatric Central Register, which covers the whole Danish population.
The Danish Psychiatric Central Register includes nationwide information that has been given by psychiatrists concerning all admissions to psychiatric departments since 1969.14 The Danish Medical
Results
The mean birth weight from 1973 to 1993 was 137 g lower (95% CI, 77-198 g) in children of women who were hospitalized with an eating disorder before pregnancy than in children of women without the disorder. From 1978 to 1993, the difference in mean birth weight was 134 g (70-199 g). Adjusted for gestational age from 1978 to 1993, this difference was 101 g (46-157 g, Table III).
The risk of low birth weight was twice as high in children of women who were hospitalized with an eating disorder
Comment
Previous studies and case reports have indicated that women with an eating disorder are at increased risk of being delivered of a low-birth-weight child,8., 9., 10., 11., 12., 13. but to our knowledge ours is the largest prospective study on this association to have an unexposed comparison group. The study's strength is its size, the prospective design, and the possibility to adjust for a number of potential confounders.
In a study of 50 women who had been diagnosed with an eating disorder
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Supported by The Egmont Foundation, the Hede Nielsen Foundation, the Ivan Nielsen Foundation, and the Torben and Alice Frimodts Foundation.