The applicability of the Eating Disorder Inventory in pregnancy

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Obstetrics

Background:

• Pregnant women are a vulnerable population for developing eating disorders (EDs).
• Existing screening tools may require adaptation for use during pregnancy due to physiological and psychological changes.
• Validating the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is essential for accurate ED screening in pregnant individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) for use in pregnant women.
• To assess the psychometric properties of the EDI, including factorial, internal, and discriminative validity, in a cohort of women in the postpartum period.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 1146 women completed the EDI within 3 days postpartum.
• Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess factorial validity.
• Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlations were calculated for internal validity.
• Discriminative validity was tested by comparing EDI subscale scores between women with and without EDs.

Main Results:

• The study recommended excluding five items across three EDI subscales (Drive for Thinness, Bulimia, Body Dissatisfaction) for pregnant populations.
• Modified subscales showed appropriate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and item-total correlations.
• The adjusted EDI demonstrated reliability as a screening tool for eating disorders in pregnant women.

Conclusions:

• Certain eating-related thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors, particularly those related to weight changes and vomiting, are common and normal during pregnancy.
• These pregnancy-specific changes make some standard EDI items less feasible for accurately measuring ED symptoms.
• The adapted EDI is a reliable tool for screening eating disorders in pregnant women, but specific considerations for pregnancy-related changes are necessary.