Eating disorder that was diagnosed before pregnancy and pregnancy outcome

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of an eating disorder that was diagnosed before pregnancy and a preterm delivery and/or the delivery of a low-birth-weight or small-for-gestational-age infant.

This was a register-based follow-up study. We included 302 women who were hospitalized with an eating disorder before pregnancy who were delivered of 504 children and 900 control subjects who were delivered of 1552 children. The association of eating disorders, birth weight, and gestational age was assessed by bivariate and multivariate analyses.

The risk of a low-birth-weight infant was twice as high in women with a previous eating disorder compared with women with no such disorder (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.4-3.2). The risk of preterm delivery and a small-for-gestational-age infant was increased to 70% and 80% (odds ratio, 1.7 [95% CI, 1.1-2.6]; odds ratio, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.3-2.4]), respectively.

Women who were hospitalized for an eating disorder that was diagnosed before pregnancy were at increased risk of impaired pregnancy outcome.