Breithaupt L, Köhler-Forsberg O, Larsen JT, et al. - Through a nationwide, population-based, prospective cohort study of 525,643 girls born from January 1, 1989 to December 31, 2006, researchers assessed if hospitalization for infections and treatment with anti-infective agents is related to the risk of an eating disorder diagnosis. Severe infections that needed hospitalization were related to an elevated risk of a subsequent diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and an eating disorder not otherwise specified by 22%, 39%, and 35% of participants, respectively, when compared with adolescent girls without hospitalizations for infections. In comparison with adolescent girls without infections treated with anti-infective agents, infections treated with anti-infective agents were correlated with an elevated risk of a subsequent diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and an eating disorder not otherwise specified by 23%, 63%, and 45% of participants, respectively. Therefore, hospital-treated infections and less severe infections treated with anti-infective agents were correlated with an elevated risk of subsequent anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and eating disorders not otherwise defined. Future studies should assess if these relationships were causal and the specific mechanisms involved.