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Adolescent pregnancy and eating disorders: a minireview and case report

Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity volume 23, pages 389–393 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Despite the fact that eating disorders (EDs) during pregnancy and early child bearing can both individually increase risk to mother and child, there is a paucity of research exploring pregnancy in adolescence and concomitant EDs.

Case

We report the case of a 16-year-old female with atypical anorexia nervosa, who experiences a remission of her ED behavior during pregnancy, followed by a severe relapse in the post-partum period.

Conclusion

In this case, pregnancy functioned as a motivator for remission in our patient with concomitant ED. Further research is needed to identify risks of EDs in adolescent pregnancy, to explore the trajectory of pre-existing EDs during pregnancy and to identify effective interventions for prolonging remission into the post-partum period.

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Abbreviations

ED:

Eating disorder

EDNOS:

Eating disorder not otherwise specified

AN:

Anorexia nervosa

BN:

Bulimia nervosa

BED:

Binge eating disorder

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Megan E. Harrison, Amy Robinson & Mark L. Norris

  2. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Megan E. Harrison & Mark L. Norris

  3. Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Bannuya Balasubramanaiam

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada

    Megan E. Harrison

Authors
  1. Megan E. Harrison
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  2. Bannuya Balasubramanaiam
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  3. Amy Robinson
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  4. Mark L. Norris
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Megan E. Harrison.

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Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from the patient included in this case report.

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Harrison, M.E., Balasubramanaiam, B., Robinson, A. et al. Adolescent pregnancy and eating disorders: a minireview and case report. Eat Weight Disord 23, 389–393 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0380-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0380-2

Keywords

  • Eating disorder
  • Anorexia nervosa
  • Adolescent pregnancy
  • Maternal outcome
  • Child outcome