Ísak Sigfússon and Steinunn Olafsdottir
Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a debilitating mental health disorder often emerging during teenage years or early adulthood. We aimed to explore the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and probable BDD in Icelandic women. Our secondary aim was to examine the prevalence of BDD comorbidity.
Methods: We used cross-sectional data from 27,526 women aged 18-69 in the Stress-and-Gene-Analysis (SAGA) cohort to explore the relationship between 13 types of ACEs (assessed with the ACE-IQ) and probable BDD (assessed with the BDDQ). We used log-linear Poisson regression to estimate PRs of probable BDD by exposure to ACEs, adjusting for potential confounders.
Results: The average participant age was 35.8 years (SD = 12.1), with 10.1% presenting with probable BDD. A dose-response relationship was observed between ACEs and probable BDD; compared to 0 ACEs, ≥5 ACEs were associated with 2.66 times the prevalence (95% CI 2.32-3.05) of probable BDD. Six ACE types (emotional neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, drug abuse in household, mental illness in household and bullying) showed the strongest associations with probable BDD.
Conclusion: Findings lend support to the role of ACEs in BDD among women and underscore the need for further research on ACEs and other early life factors in BDD etiology.
