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Is childhood OCD a risk factor for eating disorders later in life? A longitudinal study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2011

N. Micali ,
K. Hilton ,
E. Natatani ,
I. Heyman ,
C. Turner  and
D. Mataix-Cols
N. Micali*
Affiliation:
King's College London, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
K. Hilton
Affiliation:
King's College London, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
E. Natatani
Affiliation:
King's College London, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
I. Heyman
Affiliation:
King's College London, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
C. Turner
Affiliation:
King's College London, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
D. Mataix-Cols
Affiliation:
King's College London, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr N. Micali, Brain and Behaviour Sciences Unit, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

It has been suggested that childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be a risk factor for the development of an eating disorder (ED) later in life, but prospective studies are lacking. We aimed to determine the prevalence of ED at follow-up and clinical predictors in a longitudinal clinical sample of adolescents/young adults diagnosed with OCD in childhood.

Method

All contactable (n=231) young people with OCD assessed over 9 years at a national and specialist paediatric OCD clinic were included in this study. At follow-up, 126 (57%) young people and parents completed the ED section of the Developmental and Well-being Assessment. Predictors for ED were investigated using logistic regression.

Results

In total, 16 participants (12.7%) had a diagnosis of ED at follow-up. Having an ED was associated with female gender and persistent OCD at follow-up. There was a trend for family history of ED being predictive of ED diagnosis. Five (30%) of those who developed an ED at follow-up had ED symptoms or food-related obsessions/compulsions at baseline. A difference in predictors for an ED versus other anxiety disorders at follow-up was identified.

Conclusions

This study provides initial evidence that baseline clinical predictors such as female gender and family history of ED might be specific to the later development of ED in the context of childhood OCD. Clinicians should be alert to ED subthreshold symptoms in young girls presenting with OCD. Future longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the relationship between childhood OCD and later ED.

Keywords

Developmenteating disordersfollow-upOCD
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 12 , December 2011 , pp. 2507 - 2513
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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