Bone density of women who have recovered from anorexia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Hartman, David ;Crisp, Arthur ;Rooney, Barbara ;Rackow, Chloe ;Atkinson, Richard ;Patel, Sanjeev

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 142 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(200007)28:1<107::aid-eat13>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To examine bone density in 19 women who had previously experienced classical anorexia nervosa from which they had been fully recovered for a mean of 21 years (current characteristics: median age 40.2 years; eating attitudes test [eat] score 2; body mass index [bmi] 21.1; average 1.8 offspring).

Method:

Probands were compared, blindly, in respect of bone density, with 13 control subjects matched for age and sex and with no history of eating disorders. dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (dxa) was used to evaluate the bone mineral density (bmd) of the lumbar spine and the head of the femur.

Results:

Femur bmd was still significantly less among ex-anorectic sufferers. two subjects had experienced pathological fractures while anorectic, both having been strenuous exercisers. none appeared to have suffered post illness fractures. bmd at follow-up did not relate to the severity or chronicity of previous anorexia nervosa.

Discussion:

Full clinical recovery from anorexia nervosa does not quite confer full establishment of normal bone density. however, pathological fractures are not a feature thereafter, within middle life.