Eating Disorders in Early Pregnancy

Eating disorders have been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes (e.g., miscarriage, cesarean section, low birth weight, and cleft palate). Retrospective reports have suggested that eating disorders improve during pregnancy, but no population-based studies have examined the issue. To learn about the course of eating disorders during early pregnancy, researchers used data from a large, ongoing, population-based cohort study of pregnancy outcomes in Norway. Of the women invited thus far, 54,714 (42%) have enrolled. The current report covers 41,157 women (75% of enrollees) who self-reported eating-disorder symptoms at a median of 18.1 weeks’ gestation. The questionnaire covered bulimia nervosa (BN), binge-eating disorder (BED), and weekly…