Eating disorders are significant mental health problems that affect over 5 million women in the United States. Collectively, they are associated with the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder and tend to have chronic courses characterized by significant psychiatric and medical morbidity. They display a stereotypic pattern of development in girls with significant increases in prevalence only after puberty. Theories accounting for this pubertal risk have focused almost entirely on psychosocial risk factors that increase during puberty and may contribute to risk in girls. However, recent data confirm that genetic factors are critically important as well, as the heritability of disordered eating increases dramatically across puberty (from 0 percent in pre-puberty to e50 percent in post-puberty). To date, no studies have examined factors underlying pubertal """"""""activation"""""""" of genetic effects. Increases in estradiol during puberty may account for these effects, as estradiol drives pubertal changes in girls and is a potent regulator of gene transcription within neurobiological systems implicated in eating disorders. The long-term objective of the proposed work is to identify the role of estradiol in genetic risk for disordered eating during puberty in girls.
The Specific Aims are to examine: 1) whether estradiol increases or """"""""moderates"""""""" genetic influences on disordered eating in girls during puberty;and 2) if estradiol's effects are independent of other factors (i.e., progesterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, physical changes of puberty, body weight and adiposity) that change during puberty. Participants will include an """"""""enriched"""""""" sample of 1,000 same-sex female twins between the ages of 9 and 14 recruited through the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Approximately 30 percent of the sample will be selected to exhibit elevated disordered eating. Questionnaires and interviews will be administered to each twin and at least one parent to assess disordered eating symptoms and the physical changes of puberty. Body mass index and bioelectric impedence analysis will be used to assess body mass index and adiposity, respectively. Salivary and serum samples will be collected and assayed for hormone levels using standard enzyme immunoassay techniques. Latent gene x environment twin models will examine the extent to which estradiol moderates genetic influences on disordered eating and whether these effects are independent of other factors that change during puberty. Findings from our innovative, multi-method studies have the potential to significantly increase understanding of the causes of eating disorders by seeking underlying neurobiological mechanisms contributing to their genetic diathesis during puberty. Greater insight into etiological mechanisms will narrow the search for candidate genes and contribute to improved treatment and prevention of these disorders.

Public Health Relevance

Eating disorders are significant mental health problems that increase in prevalence only after puberty in girls. Emerging data suggest that increased risk may be due to the activation of genes for eating disorders during puberty. Greater insight into neurobiological factors that contribute to these genetic effects will narrow the search for candidate genes and ultimately contribute to improved treatment and prevention of these disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH092377-02
Application #
8150404
Study Section
Behavioral Genetics and Epidemiology Study Section (BGES)
Program Officer
Garvey, Marjorie A
Project Start
2010-09-30
Project End
2015-04-30
Budget Start
2011-08-01
Budget End
2012-04-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$683,435
Indirect Cost
Name
Michigan State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
193247145
City
East Lansing
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48824
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Jelenkovic, Aline; Yokoyama, Yoshie; Sund, Reijo et al. (2018) Associations between birth size and later height from infancy through adulthood: An individual based pooled analysis of 28 twin cohorts participating in the CODATwins project. Early Hum Dev 120:53-60
Jelenkovic, Aline; Yokoyama, Yoshie; Sund, Reijo et al. (2017) Association between birthweight and later body mass index: an individual-based pooled analysis of 27 twin cohorts participating in the CODATwins project. Int J Epidemiol 46:1488-1498
Klump, Kelly L; Culbert, Kristen M; O'Connor, Shannon et al. (2017) The significant effects of puberty on the genetic diathesis of binge eating in girls. Int J Eat Disord 50:984-989
Racine, Sarah E; VanHuysse, Jessica L; Keel, Pamela K et al. (2017) Eating disorder-specific risk factors moderate the relationship between negative urgency and binge eating: A behavioral genetic investigation. J Abnorm Psychol 126:481-494
Culbert, Kristen M; Burt, S Alexandra; Klump, Kelly L (2017) Expanding the developmental boundaries of etiologic effects: The role of adrenarche in genetic influences on disordered eating in males. J Abnorm Psychol 126:593-606
Silventoinen, Karri; Jelenkovic, Aline; Latvala, Antti et al. (2017) Education in Twins and Their Parents Across Birth Cohorts Over 100 years: An Individual-Level Pooled Analysis of 42-Twin Cohorts. Twin Res Hum Genet 20:395-405
O'Connor, Shannon M; Beam, Christopher R; Luo, Xiaochen et al. (2017) Genetic and environmental associations between body dissatisfaction, weight preoccupation, and binge eating: Evidence for a common factor with differential loadings across symptom type. Int J Eat Disord 50:157-161
Yokoyama, Yoshie; Jelenkovic, Aline; Sund, Reijo et al. (2016) Twin's Birth-Order Differences in Height and Body Mass Index From Birth to Old Age: A Pooled Study of 26 Twin Cohorts Participating in the CODATwins Project. Twin Res Hum Genet 19:112-24
Jelenkovic, Aline; Hur, Yoon-Mi; Sund, Reijo et al. (2016) Genetic and environmental influences on adult human height across birth cohorts from 1886 to 1994. Elife 5:

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