Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
Volume 136, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 156-165

Risk of eating disorders in immigrant populations (Article)

Mustelin L.* , Hedman A.M. , Thornton L.M. , Kuja-Halkola R. , Keski-Rahkonen A. , Cantor-Graae E. , Almqvist C. , Birgegård A. , Lichtenstein P. , Mortensen P.B. , Pedersen C.B. , Bulik C.M.
  • a Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States, Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  • b Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • c Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
  • d Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • e Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  • f Social Medicine and Global Health, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
  • g Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • h Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden
  • i Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • j National Centre for Register-based Research, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, Centre for Integrated Register-based Research, CIRRAU, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH, Aarhus, Denmark
  • k National Centre for Register-based Research, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, Centre for Integrated Register-based Research, CIRRAU, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH, Aarhus, Denmark
  • l Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract

Objective: The risk of certain psychiatric disorders is elevated among immigrants. To date, no population studies on immigrant health have addressed eating disorders. We examined whether risk of eating disorders in first- and second-generation immigrants differs from native-born Danes and Swedes. Method: All individuals born 1984–2002 (Danish cohort) and 1989–1999 (Swedish cohort) and residing in the respective country on their 10th birthday were included. They were followed up for the development of eating disorders based on out-patient and in-patient data. Results: The risks of all eating disorder types were lower among first-generation immigrants compared to the native populations: Incidence-rate ratio (95% confidence interval) was 0.39 (0.29, 0.51) for anorexia nervosa, 0.60 (0.42, 0.83) for bulimia nervosa, and 0.62 (0.47, 0.79) for other eating disorders in Denmark and 0.27 (0.21, 0.34) for anorexia nervosa, 0.30 (0.18, 0.51) for bulimia nervosa, and 0.39 (0.32, 0.47) for other eating disorders in Sweden. Likewise, second-generation immigrants by both parents were at lower risk, whereas those with only one foreign-born parent were not. Conclusion: The decreased risk of eating disorders among immigrants is opposite to what has been observed for other psychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia. Possible explanations include buffering sociocultural factors and underdetection in health care. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Author Keywords

immigrants Anorexia nervosa Epidemiology Eating disorders Bulimia nervosa

Index Keywords

immigrant schizophrenia Feeding and Eating Disorders demography follow up human risk assessment middle aged Denmark statistics and numerical data controlled study priority journal anorexia nervosa Bulimia Residence Characteristics Sweden Humans migrant Adolescent male Emigrants and Immigrants female risk factor Risk Factors Incidence Article help seeking behavior major clinical study adult eating disorder cohort analysis Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85022043524&doi=10.1111%2facps.12750&partnerID=40&md5=f1c7b4155ca100c833337e6f6e73057f
DOI: 10.1111/acps.12750
ISSN: 0001690X
Cited by: 5
Original Language: English