Lipid levels in anorexia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Mehler, Philip S. ;Lezotte, Dennis ;Eckel, Robert

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 98 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199809)24:2<217::aid-eat11>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

Anorexia nervosa is a chronic disorder characterized by the patient's refusal to maintain body weight and a myriad of medical complications. two frequently cited and poorly understood complications are hypercholesterolemia and hypercarotenemia. we therefore measured fasting cholesterol and beta-carotene levels in a cohort of moderately severe anorectics.

Method:

All subjects were female and met dsm-iv criteria for anorexia nervosa. lipid profiles and beta-carotene levels were determined in 23 female anorexics.

Results:

The mean total cholesterol for this group of anorectics was 179.3 mg/dl. low-density lipoprotein values (ldl) ranged from 47 to 173, with a mean of 104.1 mg/dl. the mean high-density lipoprotein value (hdl) was 51.5 mg/dl. beta-carotene levels were all normal.

Discussion:

We conclude that total and ldl cholesterol in anorexia are well within the range of normal, and hdl levels are favorably high. further, hypercarotenemia was not associated with anorexia nervosa.