Association of etiological factors across the extreme end and continuous variation in disordered eating in female Swedish twins
Dinkler, Lisa ; Taylor, Mark J. ; Råstam, Maria LU
; Hadjikhani, Nouchine
; Bulik, Cynthia M.
; Lichtenstein, Paul
; Gillberg, Christopher
and Lundström, Sebastian
LU
(2021)
In Psychological Medicine
51(5).
p.750-760
- Abstract
BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that many psychiatric disorders etiologically represent the extreme end of dimensionally distributed features rather than distinct entities. The extent to which this applies to eating disorders (EDs) is unknown.MethodsWe investigated if there is similar etiology in (a) the continuous distribution of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), (b) the extremes of EDI-2 score, and (c) registered ED diagnoses, in 1481 female twin pairs at age 18 years (born 1992-1999). EDI-2 scores were self-reported at age 18. ED diagnoses were identified through the Swedish National Patient Register, parent-reported treatment and/or self-reported purging behavior of a frequency and duration consistent with DSM-IV... (More)
BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that many psychiatric disorders etiologically represent the extreme end of dimensionally distributed features rather than distinct entities. The extent to which this applies to eating disorders (EDs) is unknown.MethodsWe investigated if there is similar etiology in (a) the continuous distribution of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), (b) the extremes of EDI-2 score, and (c) registered ED diagnoses, in 1481 female twin pairs at age 18 years (born 1992-1999). EDI-2 scores were self-reported at age 18. ED diagnoses were identified through the Swedish National Patient Register, parent-reported treatment and/or self-reported purging behavior of a frequency and duration consistent with DSM-IV criteria. We differentiated between anorexia nervosa (AN) and other EDs.ResultsThe heritability of the EDI-2 score was 0.65 (95% CI 0.61-0.68). The group heritabilities in DeFries-Fulker extremes analyses were consistent over different percentile-based extreme groups [0.59 (95% CI 0.37-0.81) to 0.65 (95% CI 0.55-0.75)]. Similarly, the heritabilities in liability threshold models were consistent over different levels of severity. In joint categorical-continuous models, the twin-based genetic correlation was 0.52 (95% CI 0.39-0.65) between EDI-2 score and diagnoses of other EDs, and 0.26 (95% CI 0.08-0.42) between EDI-2 score and diagnoses of AN. The non-shared environmental correlations were 0.52 (95% CI 0.32-0.70) and 0.60 (95% CI 0.38-0.79), respectively.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that some EDs can partly be conceptualized as the extreme manifestation of continuously distributed ED features. AN, however, might be more distinctly genetically demarcated from ED features in the general population than other EDs.
(Less)
- author
- Dinkler, Lisa
; Taylor, Mark J.
; Råstam, Maria
LU
; Hadjikhani, Nouchine
; Bulik, Cynthia M.
; Lichtenstein, Paul
; Gillberg, Christopher
and Lundström, Sebastian
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-04-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Adolescence, anorexia nervosa, eating disorders, quantitative genetics, twin study
- in
- Psychological Medicine
- volume
- 51
- issue
- 5
- pages
- 11 pages
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:31843035
- scopus:85076789733
- ISSN
- 0033-2917
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0033291719003672
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 571cc3a3-2a21-46fe-bf8e-8d44dc1bdb19
- date added to LUP
- 2020-01-10 13:48:05
- date last changed
- 2024-04-17 01:53:28
@article{571cc3a3-2a21-46fe-bf8e-8d44dc1bdb19,
abstract = {{<p>BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that many psychiatric disorders etiologically represent the extreme end of dimensionally distributed features rather than distinct entities. The extent to which this applies to eating disorders (EDs) is unknown.MethodsWe investigated if there is similar etiology in (a) the continuous distribution of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), (b) the extremes of EDI-2 score, and (c) registered ED diagnoses, in 1481 female twin pairs at age 18 years (born 1992-1999). EDI-2 scores were self-reported at age 18. ED diagnoses were identified through the Swedish National Patient Register, parent-reported treatment and/or self-reported purging behavior of a frequency and duration consistent with DSM-IV criteria. We differentiated between anorexia nervosa (AN) and other EDs.ResultsThe heritability of the EDI-2 score was 0.65 (95% CI 0.61-0.68). The group heritabilities in DeFries-Fulker extremes analyses were consistent over different percentile-based extreme groups [0.59 (95% CI 0.37-0.81) to 0.65 (95% CI 0.55-0.75)]. Similarly, the heritabilities in liability threshold models were consistent over different levels of severity. In joint categorical-continuous models, the twin-based genetic correlation was 0.52 (95% CI 0.39-0.65) between EDI-2 score and diagnoses of other EDs, and 0.26 (95% CI 0.08-0.42) between EDI-2 score and diagnoses of AN. The non-shared environmental correlations were 0.52 (95% CI 0.32-0.70) and 0.60 (95% CI 0.38-0.79), respectively.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that some EDs can partly be conceptualized as the extreme manifestation of continuously distributed ED features. AN, however, might be more distinctly genetically demarcated from ED features in the general population than other EDs.</p>}},
author = {{Dinkler, Lisa and Taylor, Mark J. and Råstam, Maria and Hadjikhani, Nouchine and Bulik, Cynthia M. and Lichtenstein, Paul and Gillberg, Christopher and Lundström, Sebastian}},
issn = {{0033-2917}},
keywords = {{Adolescence; anorexia nervosa; eating disorders; quantitative genetics; twin study}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{750--760}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
series = {{Psychological Medicine}},
title = {{Association of etiological factors across the extreme end and continuous variation in disordered eating in female Swedish twins}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719003672}},
doi = {{10.1017/S0033291719003672}},
volume = {{51}},
year = {{2021}},
}