Malnutrition induces dissociated changes in lymphocyte count and subset proportion in patients with anorexia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Saito, Hiroshi ;Nomura, Kaoru ;Hotta, Mari ;Takano, Kazue

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 111 KB
• Volume: 40
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/eat.20417

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Objective:

The effect of nutritional state on lymphocytes in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) was studied.

Method:

We studied total lymphocyte count (TLC), lymphocyte subsets, and nutritional markers [body mass index (BMI), insulin‐like growth factor‐1 (IGF‐I)], and serum zinc concentration) in 33 patients with AN and 10 healthy controls.

Results:

TLC positively correlated with BMI (r = .680, p < .001), IGF‐I (r = .609 p < .001), and zinc (r = .589, p < .001). The CD4+ T‐lymphocyte (CD4) proportion correlated negatively with BMI (r = −.301, p = .05) and IGF‐I (r = −.346, p = .023), counteracting the effect of malnutrition on TLC. However, because this increase in CD4 proportion was weak, patients with very severe malnutrition (indicated by serum zinc less than 40 μg/dL) had critically low CD4 counts of less than 200 cells/μL.

Conclusion:

Our findings suggest that lymphocyte counts and subset proportion change in an opposite manner in patients with AN, and that decrease in serum zinc levels is nutrition‐related. © 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.