A prospective study of effects of prenatal maternal stress on later eating-disorder manifestations in affected offspring: Preliminary indications based on the project ice storm cohort

作者：St Hilaire Annie^*; Steiger Howard; Liu Aihua; Laplante David P; Thaler Lea; Magill Tara; King Suzanne

来源：International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2015, 48(5): 512-516.

DOI：10.1002/eat.22391

• eating disorders
• maladaptive eating
• risk factors
• environmental stress
• prenatal maternal stress

BackgroundResearch associates maternal stress exposures (especially when occurring late in gestation) with heightened risk of subsequent emotional and behavioral problems in affected offspring. However, as yet, no study has examined the association between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and affected children's risk of anorexia- or bulimia-type eating disturbances.
ObjectiveTo study the influences of PNMS on later disordered eating in exposed offspring.
MethodWe used the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT)-26 to measure eating attitudes and behaviors in 54 thirteen-year olds whose mothers had been exposed, while pregnant with these children, to the 1998 Quebec Ice Storma natural disaster regarded as a model of exposure to severe environmental stress. Mothers' stress was measured shortly after exposure to the storm using established indices of objective and subjective stress.
ResultsHierarchical multiple linear regression analyses indicated that once variance owing to children's body mass index and sex was accounted for, stress exposures during the third trimester of pregnancy predicted elevated EAT-26 scores in affected childrenperhaps even more so when levels of objective stress were high.
DiscussionThird trimester exposure to PNMS, especially when objectively severe, seems to be associated with increased eating-disorder-linked manifestations in affected early adolescents.

• 出版日期2015-7
• 单位McGill