The hematology of anorexia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Hütter, Gero ;Ganepola, Susanne ;Hofmann, Wolf-K.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 97 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/eat.20610

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Objective:

Changes of the peripheral blood cell count in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) are frequent. Anemia and leukopenia are observed in one‐third of these patients. Examination of the bone marrow reveals in almost 50% of the patients with AN signs of bone marrow atrophy and can additionally suffer from a gelatinous bone marrow transformation.

Method:

Published studies and investigations concerning hematological changes in patients with AN were reviewed.

Results:

Anemia and mild neutropenia are detectable in almost one‐third of these patients, whereas thrombocytopenia is rather uncommon. The exact mechanism for these findings is still unclear, but 50% of AN‐patients with hematological changes display morphological signs of partial bone marrow atrophy.

Discussion:

Changes of the peripheral blood cell count in patients with AN is a frequent observation but the peripheral blood cell count cannot predict the severity of bone marrow atrophy. All hematological and morphological alterations disappear completely and rapidly after sufficient refeeding. © 2008 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2009