Research into eating disorders and fertility reveals mixed picture
August 3, 2011 in HealthEating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are associated with fertility problems and negative attitudes to pregnancy, according to a UK study. The research also revealed high rates of unplanned pregnancies in women with a history of anorexia, suggesting they may be underestimating their chances of conceiving. The study is to be published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Eating disorders are known to cause disruption to a woman's menstrual cycle, with substantial weight loss leading to hormonal changes that might prevent ovulation, but so far little research has been carried out into how eating disorders might affect fertility.
A team at King's College London and UCL investigated a group of 11,088 pregnant women from the Avon area of the UK, with women asked to complete questionnaires at 12 and 18 weeks gestation. Women with lifetime anorexia and bulimia were compared to the group as a whole to assess the impact of their eating disorder on attitudes to fertility and pregnancy.
Of the total number of women, 171 (1.5%) had anorexia at some point in their life, 199 (1.8%) had bulimia and an additional 82 (0.7%) had suffered from both conditions. The remaining 10,636 (96%) formed the general population comparison group.
The survey revealed that a higher proportion of women (39.5%) with a history of anorexia and bulimia took longer than six months to conceive compared to the general population (25%). However, they were no more likely to take longer than 12 months to conceive than the general population. The study found that women with anorexia and bulimia were more than twice as likely (6.2%) than the general population (2.7%) to have received treatment or help to conceive their current pregnancy.
However, when asked at 18 weeks gestation, women with anorexia were more likely to report that their current pregnancy was unintentional. In this group of women 41.5% said their pregnancy was unplanned compared to 28.6% of women in the general population.
The majority of women reported feeling overjoyed or pleased when they discovered that they were pregnant (71%). However, eating disorders were linked to negative feelings about pregnancy. Further analysis has shown that women with anorexia and bulimia were more than twice as likely (9.8%) than the general population (3.8%) to report feeling unhappy when they found out they were pregnant.
Lead author, Abigail Easter, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said:
"This research highlights that there are risks to fertility associated with eating disorders. However, the high rates of unplanned pregnancies in women with a history of anorexia suggest that women may be underestimating their chances of conceiving.
"Pregnancy can be a difficult time for women with eating disorders and this is the first time feelings about pregnancy have been looked at amongst this group of women.
"Women planning a pregnancy should ideally seek treatment for their eating disorder symptoms prior to conception and health professionals should be aware of eating disorders when assessing fertility and providing treatment for this."
Dr Nadia Micali, Institute of Child Health, UCL and lead investigator added:
"Health professionals are often unaware of the effects of eating disorders on pregnancy and fertility. Women with a history of anorexia for example are more likely to have unplanned pregnancies. This has now been replicated in three large studies and has important repercussions on the level of antenatal and postnatal care they will need."
Professor Philip Steer, BJOG editor-in-chief said:
"Eating disorders have important clinical consequences, especially in women. This research shows that more women with eating disorders are unprepared for pregnancy and will therefore require more support during the antenatal and postnatal period."
More information: Easter A, Treasure J, Micali N. Fertility and prenatal attitudes towards pregnancy in women with eating disorders: results from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. BJOG 2011; DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2011.03077.x .
Provided by
King's College London
-
Pregnant women with bulimia have more anxiety and depression
Sep 17, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Women with anorexia nervosa more likely to have unplanned pregnancies
Oct 29, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Eating disorders on the rise in Britain
Oct 30, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Pregnancy may increase the risk of developing binge eating disorder
Sep 06, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Women with eating disorders draw a different picture of themselves than women without
Feb 14, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse
12 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
-
Limits to growth: Scientists identify key metastasis-enabling enzyme
May 22, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
0
-
Seeing is as seeing does: Spatially-structured retinal input in early development of cortical maps
Apr 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
1
-
Dreamless nights: Brain activity during nonrapid eye movement sleep
Apr 09, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (12) |
0
-
Take your time: Neurobiology sheds light on the superiority of spaced vs. massed learning
Mar 28, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (21) |
3
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Most occupational injury and illness costs are paid by the government and private payers
UC Davis researchers have found that workers' compensation insurance is not used nearly as much as it should be to cover the nation's multi-billion dollar price tag for workplace illnesses and injuries. Instead, almost 80 ...
Health
3 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Early physical therapist treatment associated with reduced risk of healthcare utilization and reduced overall healthcare
A new study published in Spine shows that early treatment by a physical therapist for low back pain (LBP), as compared to delayed treatment, was associated with reduced risk of subsequent healthcare utilization and lower ...
Health
6 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Cancer patients share web info with docs for insight, advice
(HealthDay) -- Cancer patients' primary goal in talking with their doctors about information they've found on the Internet is to get more insight and advice on the online information, new research indicates.
Health
8 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
P&G to add latches to make detergent packs safer
(AP) -- Procter & Gamble says it will change the design of packaging for its miniature laundry detergent product to deter children from eating the brightly colored packets that look like candy.
Health
9 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
In Spain, 70 percent of women use contraceptives during their first sexual encounter
Contraceptive use in Spain during the first sexual encounter is similar to other European countries. However, there are some geographical differences between Spanish regions: women in Murcia use contraceptives ...
Health
10 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Tongue analysis software uses ancient Chinese medicine to warn of disease
For 5,000 years, the Chinese have used a system of medicine based on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body. In this system, the appearance of the tongue is one of the measures used to classify ...
Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse
(Medical Xpress) -- Regardless of an organism’s biological complexity, every encephalized animal continuously makes under-informed behavioral choices that can have serious consequences. Despite its ubiquity, ...
Cancer may require simpler genetic mutations than previously thought
Chromosomal deletions in DNA often involve just one of two gene copies inherited from either parent. But scientists haven't known how a deletion in one gene from one parent, called a "hemizygous" deletion, can contribute ...
Skp2 activates cancer-promoting, glucose-processing Akt
HER2 and its epidermal growth factor receptor cousins mobilize a specialized protein to activate a major player in cancer development and sugar metabolism, scientists report in the May 25 issue of Cell.
Inherited DNA change explains overactive leukemia gene
A small inherited change in DNA is largely responsible for overactivating a gene linked to poor treatment response in people with acute leukemia.
New device allows pacemaker patients to safely undergo MRIs
For many, it's a medical conundrum: The very pacemaker keeping their heart in rhythm prevents them from undergoing an MRI to diagnose other ailments, because interaction between the two devices could prove deadly.