Regular Article

Childbearing and mortality among women with anorexia nervosa

  1. Fotios C. Papadopoulos MD, PhD1,*,
  2. Georgios Karamanis MD1,
  3. Lena Brandt BSc2,
  4. Anders Ekbom MD, PhD2,
  5. Lisa Ekselius MD, PhD1

Article first published online: 13 AUG 2012

DOI: 10.1002/eat.22051

Issue

International Journal of Eating Disorders

International Journal of Eating Disorders

Volume 46, Issue 2, pages 164–170, March 2013

Additional Information

How to Cite

Papadopoulos, F. C., Karamanis, G., Brandt, L., Ekbom, A. and Ekselius, L. (2013), Childbearing and mortality among women with anorexia nervosa. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 46: 164–170. doi: 10.1002/eat.22051

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

  2. 2

    Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

*Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 7 FEB 2013
  2. Article first published online: 13 AUG 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 14 JUL 2012

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Keywords:

  • anorexia nervosa;
  • mortality;
  • parity

Abstract

Objective:

To assess the association between childbearing and mortality from anorexia nervosa (AN).

Method:

A total of 5,251 females, from a population-based Swedish registry, admitted with an AN diagnosis during the period 1973–2003 were included. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were estimated and hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using Cox regression.

Results:

Nulliparous women had a sixfold higher mortality due to natural causes and ninefold higher mortality due to unnatural causes compared to the general population. Parous women had higher mortality compared to the general population only due to unnatural causes. Suicide was the most common cause of death. Childbearing was associated with a 65% lower mortality. One hundred forty four women out of 1,941 parous women were hospitalized perinatally for any psychiatric disorder (7.4%).

Discussion:

Childbearing is associated with lower mortality among women with AN. © 2012 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2013)

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