Women with eating disorders are less likely to have children than women of the same age who do not have these disorders, a new study has found.

According to Finnish scientists, an estimated 5-10% of young women in Western countries suffer from an eating disorders at some stage. They decided to look into the link between these disorders and possible reproductive health problems.

They looked at around 11,000 women over a 15-year period. More than 2,200 of these were attending an eating disorder clinic.

The study found that the biggest discrepancy was among women with anorexia. The number of pregnancies in this group was less than half of that of the women without eating disorders.

The study also found that women with bulimia were more than twice as likely to seek an abortion if they did become pregnant, compared to women without eating disorders.

Meanwhile, among women with binge-eating disorder who did become pregnant, almost half of these pregnancies ended in miscarriage.

"This study does not provide an explanation for the reproductive health problems observed in women with eating disorders. Based on previous research, however, it seems likely that the problems can at least partially be attributed to the eating disorder. Both being underweight and obese are known to be associated with the increased risk of infertility and miscarriage," explained the scientists from the University of Helsinki.

However, they noted that eating disorders can also cause irregular periods, or the total absence of periods. This can lead to ‘neglecting contraception and ultimately to unwanted pregnancies'.

"Early recognition, effective care and sufficiently long follow-up periods for eating disorders are crucial in the prevention of reproductive health problems," the team added.

Details of these findings are published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.