The Role of Metabolic, Immune, and Neurotrophic Markers in the Etiology of Eating Disorders Using Neonatal Bloodspots

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are serious eating disorders (EDs) with significant morbidity and mortality.

Recent genetic research has led to a reconceptualization of anorexia nervosa not only as a psychiatric disorder, but also a condition with metabolic underpinnings—evidence of which has been observed as early as age two, long before the onset of the ED.

Metabolites measured in neonatal blood could serve as very early markers of ED risk, unconfounded by state or scar factors related to prolonged starvation.

We propose to comprehensively analyze neonatal biomarkers (metabolic, immune, and neurotrophic), epidemiological factors, and genetics to understand ED risk and develop risk prediction models of diagnostic stability, somatic and psychiatric comorbidity, illness course and severity, and psychotropic medication response.

Successful completion of our aims will have important implications for prediction of ED type, course, severity, and outcome informed by biology at birth to aid in early identification of individuals at risk to inform precision prevention, while extending the knowledge about the etiology of EDs.