Women having history of eating disorders may struggle to get pregnant quickly, suggests a novel study. Such women also require fertility treatment by more than double, in comparison to healthy women. The rates of pregnancy after six months were lower in women suffering anorexia or bulimia.
The would-be mothers should search for early help for any symptoms of eating disorders. A team of researchers from King’s College London and University College London carried out a study that included more than eleven thousand women. They took part in long-term study to track the health of mothers and their children.
The study participants were questioned about their past history of eating disorders and their attitude towards their pregnancy, during the first half of their pregnancy. The study revealed that nearly forty percent of women with history of bulimia or anorexia took more than six months to conceive. This was compared with a quarter of women from healthy group.
Women with history of eating disorders were also more prone to require fertility treatment by more than six percent in comparison to two and half percent from the general population. However, perchance astonishingly, more pregnancies in the group of women who had sufferered anorexia at some point were unplanned.
According lead researcher Dr Abigail Easter from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, this study emphasizes that there are risks to fertility associated with eating disorders. But, the high rates of unplanned pregnancies in women with a history of anorexia suggest that women may be underestimating their chances of conceiving.
She added pregnancy could be a difficult time for women with eating disorders. Women planning a pregnancy should preferably look for treatment for their eating disorder symptoms before conception, and health professionals should be aware of eating disorders when evaluating fertility and giving treatment for the same. The study was published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Eating disorders are very serious illnesses that are depriving the body of the nutrients that it needs. They can have long-term health consequences, stated Mary George from the eating disorders charity Beat.