Childhood infections increase chances of eating disorder in girls: Study

Girls who have serious or repeated infections in childhood are at higher risk for developing eating disorders in adolescence, a new study has found.

The study, in JAMA Psychiatry, tracked 525,643 girls — every girl born in Denmark from 1989 through 2006. The researchers recorded all prescriptions that were filled for antibiotics and other anti-infective medications, as well as hospitalisations for infection, through 2012. There were 4,240 diagnoses of eating disorders during that time.

Compared with girls who had never been hospitalised for infection, those who had been hospitalised were at a 22 per cent increased risk for anorexia, a 35 per cent increased risk for bulimia and a 39 per cent increased risk for other eating disorders. 

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