• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

information for practice

news, new scholarship & more from around the world


advanced search
  • gary.holden@nyu.edu
  • @ Info4Practice
  • Archive
  • About
  • Help
  • Browse Key Journals
  • RSS Feeds

Eating disorder symptoms and their associations with anthropometric and psychiatric polygenic scores

Abstract

Background

Eating disorder (ED) symptoms are prevalent in the general population, but their shared genetic underpinnings with psychiatric, metabolic, and anthropometric traits are not known. Here, we examined if polygenic scores (PGSs) of traits associated with anorexia nervosa are also associated with adolescent ED symptoms in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).

Methods

A total of 8654 participants with genotype data and at least one phenotypic measure were included from the ALSPAC study. We associated PGS from 25 traits (16 psychiatric, 4 metabolic, and 5 anthropometric) with eight ED symptoms, including behaviours such as fasting for weight loss and cognitions such as body dissatisfaction.

Results

Higher attention deficit hyperactivity disorder PGS and lower educational attainment PGS were associated with fasting for weight loss. Higher insomnia PGS was associated with increased body dissatisfaction. We found no evidence of an association between metabolic trait PGS and any ED symptom. Fat-free mass, fat mass, and body fat percentage PGSs, were positively associated with binge eating, excessive exercise, fasting for weight loss, body dissatisfaction, and weight and shape concern.

Conclusions

ED symptoms are genetically associated with psychiatric and anthropometric, but not with metabolic traits. Our findings provide insights for future genetic research investigating on why some individuals with ED symptoms progress to develop threshold EDs while others do not.

Read the full article ›

Posted in: Journal Article Abstracts on 03/24/2022 | Link to this post on IFP |
Share

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Category RSS Feeds

  • Calls & Consultations
  • Clinical Trials
  • Funding
  • Grey Literature
  • Guidelines Plus
  • History
  • Infographics
  • Journal Article Abstracts
  • Meta-analyses - Systematic Reviews
  • Monographs & Edited Collections
  • News
  • Open Access Journal Articles
  • Podcasts
  • Video

© 1993-2025 Dr. Gary Holden. All rights reserved.

gary.holden@nyu.edu
@Info4Practice