Abstract
Eating disorders are serious mental disorders with increasing prevalence. Without early identification and treatment, eating disorders may run a long-term course. To characterize any associations among disordered eating behaviors (DEBs) and other mental health disorders and to identify early associations with the development of symptoms over time. This multicenter, population-based, longitudinal cohort study used data from baseline (collected in 2010), follow-up 1 (collected in 2012), and follow-up 2 (collected in 2015) of the IMAGEN Study, which included adolescents recruited from 8 European sites. The present study assessed data from 1623 healthy adolescents, aged 14 years at baseline, recruited from high schools. Data analyses were performed from January 2018 to September 2019. Body mass index (BMI), mental health symptoms, substance use behaviors, and personality variables were investigated as time-varying associations of DEBs (dieting, binge eating, and purging) or change in BMI over time. Polygenic risk scores were calculated to investigate genetic contributions associated with BMI, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and neuroticism to DEBs. In this cohort study of 1623 adolescents (829 girls [51.1%]) recruited at a mean (SD) age of 14.5 (0.4) years and followed up at ages 16 and 19 years, 278 adolescents (17.1%) reported binge eating, 334 adolescents (20.6%) reported purging, and 356 adolescents (21.9%) reported dieting at 14, 16, or 19 years. Among the precursors of DEBs, high BMI was associated with future dieting (OR, 3.44; 95% CI, 2.09-5.65). High levels of neuroticism (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.06), conduct problems (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.17-1.69), and deliberate self-harm (OR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.37-3.45) were associated with future binge eating. Low agreeableness (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.92-0.97), deliberate self-harm (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.69-3.95), conduct problems (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.20-1.68), alcohol misuse (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.10-1.54), and drug abuse (OR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.78-4.74) were associated with future purging. Polygenetic risk scores for BMI were associated with dieting (at 14 years: OR, 1.27; lower bound 95% CI, 1.08; at 16 years: OR, 1.38; lower bound 95% CI, 1.17); ADHD, with purging (at 16 years: OR, 1.25; lower bound 95% CI, 1.08; at 19 years, OR, 1.23; lower bound 95% CI, 1.06); and neuroticism, with binge eating (at 14 years: OR, 1.32; lower bound 95% CI, 1.11; at 16 years: OR, 1.24; lower bound 95% CI, 1.06), highlighting distinct etiologic overlaps between these traits. The DEBs predated other mental health problems, with dieting at 14 years associated with future symptoms of depression (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.56-4.10), generalized anxiety (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.14-4.51), deliberate self-harm (OR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.51-4.24), emotional problems (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.08-1.43), and smoking (OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.36-3.48). Purging at 14 years was also associated with future depression (OR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.69-5.01) and anxiety (OR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.49-4.12) symptoms. The findings of this study delineate temporal associations and shared etiologies among DEBs and other mental health disorders and emphasize the potential of genetic and phenotypical assessments of obesity, behavioral disorders, and neuroticism to improve early and differential diagnosis of eating disorders.
Highlights
Eating disorders (EDs) are common, disabling, and deadly psychiatric disorders that affect up to 15% of young women and up to 3% of young men in middle- to high-income countries.[1,2] Peak onset is between 16 and 19 years of age 3,4 a developmentally sensitive time
Among the precursors of disordered eating behaviors (DEB), high body mass index (BMI) was associated with future dieting (OR, 3.44; 95% CI, 2.09-5.65)
Polygenetic risk scores for BMI were associated with dieting; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with purging; and neuroticism, with binge eating, highlighting distinct etiologic overlaps between these traits
Summary
Eating disorders (EDs) are common, disabling, and deadly psychiatric disorders that affect up to 15% of young women and up to 3% of young men in middle- to high-income countries.[1,2] Peak onset is between 16 and 19 years of age 3,4 a developmentally sensitive time. Prior to the onset of full-syndrome EDs, people typically display milder or more sporadic subclinical disordered eating behaviors (DEBs), such as restrictive eating, binge eating, or purging.[5] Identifying risk factors and correlates of these DEBs is likely to be an effective way to facilitate early detection and development of early targeted interventions to prevent disease progression. Eating disorders are highly comorbid with other psychiatric disorders, notably anxiety,[6,7,8,9] mood,[10] and impulse-control disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).[11] The latter seems to be more associated with binge/purge spectrum EDs12 or obesity,[13] than with AN.[12,14] few studies have prospectively determined the extent to which these co-occurring psychiatric disorders predispose to, precipitate, coincide with, or are a consequence of an ED.[15] In addition, personality disorders and relevant traits, notably neuroticism, have been consistently associated with ED symptomatology.[13]
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