Bulimia Is Associated With Increased Risk of Heart Diseases And Premature Death

Bulimia Nervosa is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among women which is said to affect about 1.5% of the population. New research points out that women with this condition who are serious enough to be hospitalized have about four times higher risk for heart diseases and premature death.

The study’s lead researcher Nathalie Auger, Physician researcher, University of Montreal Hospital Research Center, Quebec, Canada opines that clinicians should be aware that bulimia isn’t a condition that goes away soon after treatment.

"This is a long-standing problem that impacts women throughout their lives," said Auger. “Psychiatrists would benefit from working with clinicians, including cardiologists, to identify women with bulimia and the best strategies to help them improve their cardiovascular profile," she added.

The researchers compared the cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality among women with bulimia with 415,891 women who were hospitalized for pregnancy-associated events like giving birth or abortions. They were followed for a period of 12 years. Their findings revealed that women who were hospitalized for bulimia posed a higher risk of any cardiovascular disease risk as well as premature death.

The study emphasized that bulimia was linked to a higher risk of all cardiovascular outcomes. And precisely, women with bulimia had 5.48 times the risk of myocardial infarction, 6.94 times the risk of atherosclerosis and 6.63 times the risk of other ischemic heart diseases compared to the control group.

They found the results to be surprising because the women in the study were quite young. The authors say that this highlights that bulimia is an important issue in terms of the overall impact on life functioning and heart issues.

They also opine that since the study participants had severe bulimia that needed hospitalization, they may develop heart problems more rapidly. Several other factors might also explain why women with bulimia had a higher risk of CVD. They also noted that several women with bulimia have metabolic alterations like hypercholesterolemia and they typically have low levels of estrogen which could affect their heart health.

"When people have bulimia, symptoms are usually secretive for some length of time, which could lead to an underestimation of mortality risk,” said Crow, Director of the Midwest Regional Postdoctoral Training Program in Eating Disorders Research.