Reproduction and offspring status 18 years after teenage-onset anorexia nervosa--a controlled community-based study.

OBJECTIVE

To study reproduction in a representative group of anorexia nervosa (AN) cases.

METHOD: Fifty-one adolescent-onset AN cases (48 women; three men), originally recruited after community screening, and 51 matched comparison cases (COMP) were interviewed 18 years after AN onset at a mean age of 32 years, regarding pregnancies and early development of the children.

RESULTS

The results of the 48 AN and 48 COMP group women are reported in the present study. Six women still had an eating disorder (ED), none of whom had become a mother. Twenty-seven women in the AN group and 31 women in the COMP group had children. Three women had an ED during pregnancy. Mean age at birth of the first child was lower in the AN group. Five AN women reported postpartum depression. Children in the AN group had significantly lower birth weight than the children in the COMP group. No other complications during pregnancy and the neonatal period differed across groups. Feeding difficulties were not overrepresented among the children of the AN group.

DISCUSSION: Adults who had recovered from teenage-onset AN did not differ in most aspects from matched controls with respect to pregnancies and development of their offspring.