Association between prenatal maternal infection and disordered eating behaviours in adolescence: a UK population-based prospective birth cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prenatal infections have been proposed as a putative risk factor for a number of psychiatric outcomes across a continuum of severity. Evidence on eating disorders is scarce. We investigated whether exposure to prenatal maternal infections is associated with an increased risk of disordered eating and weight and shape concerns in adolescence in a large UK birth cohort.

Methods

We used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The primary exposure was maternal experience of infections at any time in pregnancy. Study outcomes were presence of any, monthly or weekly disordered eating at 14 and 16 years of age, and weight and shape concerns at 14 years. We defined the causal effect of the exposure on these outcomes using a counterfactual framework a

SUBMITTER: Solmi F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7191780 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature