The Heritability of Purging and Purging Disorder in a Sample of Female Twins

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的十年中，在理解遗传对饮食失调的影响方面取得了相当大的进展。特别令人感兴趣的是在每个饮食失调诊断类别内的特定症状的差异遗传力估计。基因和环境对单一诊断实体内症状的不同贡献表明，目前的研究应侧重于症状水平，而不是诊断水平，以了解饮食失调的遗传起源并为治疗干预提供信息。泻药是一种高度遗传和容易测量的饮食失调症状。净化可以包括自我诱发的呕吐，泻药的使用，或使用其他物质。此外，虽然它被归类为没有净化症状，但过度运动是一种危险的体重控制行为。尽管事实上，净化与身体和心理的发病率，只有一项研究已经检查了净化作为一个独特的表型的遗传性，没有研究已经检查了过度运动。最近，一个新的描述进食障碍的表现，净化障碍（PD），已被提出。PD被定义为在没有暴饮暴食发作的情况下复发性腹泻。PD目前福尔斯进食障碍，未另行说明，可能导致严重的医疗后果，包括死亡。迄今为止，很少有研究在大规模的人群样本中检查PD的患病率和遗传性。了解与净化和PD相关的遗传因素很重要，因为这些因素会影响饮食失调的识别，研究和治疗。通过对双胞胎的研究，人们对许多精神疾病的家族传播有了更深入的了解。因此，本研究的目的是评估在一个大的女性双胞胎队列中的清除行为和PD的患病率，并估计遗传和环境的贡献，以清除行为和PD。该项目将填补研究文献中的空白，通过检查在一个大的人口为基础的样本的女性双胞胎的清除行为和PD的患病率和遗传性。了解更多关于净化和PD的遗传流行病学可以更好地了解饮食失调的核心组成部分，同时有助于将预防和治疗重点放在环境介导的症状上。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over the past decade, considerable advances have been made in understanding genetic influences on disordered eating. Of particular interest are differential heritability estimates of specific symptoms within each eating disorder diagnostic category. The varying contributions of genes and environment to symptoms within a single diagnostic entity suggests that current research should focus on the symptom level, rather than the diagnostic level, in order to understand the genetic origins of disordered eating and inform treatment interventions. Purging is a highly heritable and readily measurable symptom of eating disorders. Purging can include self-induced vomiting, laxative use, or use of other substances. In addition, although it is classified as a no purging symptom, excessive exercise is a dangerous weight control behavior. Despite the fact that purging is associated with physical and psychological morbidity, only one study has examined the heritability of purging as a distinct phenotype and no studies have examined excessive exercise. Recently, a newly described eating disorder presentation, purging disorder (PD), has been proposed. PD is defined as recurrent purging in the absence of binge episodes. PD currently falls under eating disorder not otherwise specified and may lead to severe medical consequences, including death. To date, little research has examined the prevalence and heritability of PD in large, population-based samples. Understanding genetic factors associated with purging and PD is important, as these factors can influence how eating disorders are recognized, researched, and treated. Insight into familial transmission of many psychiatric disorders has been informed by studies of twins. Thus, the aims of this study are to assess the prevalence of purging behaviors and PD in a large cohort of female twins and to estimate the genetic and environmental contributions to purging behaviors and to PD This project will fill a gap in the research literature by examining the prevalence and heritability of purging behaviors and PD in a large population-based sample of female twins. Learning more about the genetic epidemiology of purging and PD could lead to a greater understanding of core components of eating disorders while helping focus prevention and treatment on environmentally mediated symptoms.