Season of birth and bulimia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Morgan, John F. ;Lacey, J. Hubert

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 192 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(200005)27:4<452::aid-eat10>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

Objective: Previous studies suggest season of birth variation in eating disorders akin to those of psychoses. We studied season of birth variation in bulimia nervosa. Method: Season of birth variation in 935 patients was examined after adjustment for population trends. Variation was also examined for subgroups by age and previous anorexia nervosa. Results: Season of birth did not differ significantly from population norms among bulimics (p > .30), contrasting with studies of other eating disorders. With a history of anorexia nervosa (n = 227), peak season of birth was in March (p < .05). This is consistent with previous studies and also with seasonal birth variation for psychoses. Discussion: Overall, we find no evidence of season of birth variation in bulimia nervosa, and suggest any positive findings be treated with caution. We discuss a number of confounding influences and argue that one explanation remains shared trait vulnerability between anorexia nervosa and psychoses.