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Elevated Bone Resorption Persists In Anorexia Nervosa Patients More Than Six Months After Rehabilitation

Anorexia nervosa patients experience elevated bone resorption that persists for more than six months after rehabilitation.

This indicates that bone mass and turnover should be monitored well beyond the recovery of normal body mass, according to investigators from the Human Nutrition Unit at the National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Rome, Italy.

The investigators studied 28 anorexia nervosa patients, 18 rehabilitated anorexia nervosa patients with stable weight for at least six months and 34 healthy controls. All patients and controls were female.

Body weight, height and skeletal diameters were measured on each subject, and skeletal mass was calculated using diameters at the elbow, wrist, knee and ankle.

Twenty-four-hour urinary excretion of pyridinoline, deoxypyridinoline and creatinine were also measured.

Results showed that the absolute values for 24-hour urinary excretion of pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline were similar in all the groups. However, adjusting excretion levels for either creatinine or skeletal mass revealed a higher rate of bone resorption in anorexia nervosa patients compared with controls.

Rehabilitated patients showed the same elevated level of bone resorption as the current patients, despite weight gain in the rehabilitated subjects.

Further research is needed to address the long-term effects of prolonged elevated bone resorption in these patients, the investigators conclude.
Eur J Clin Nutr 2003;57:2:260-265. "Bone resorption in anorexia nervosa and rehabilitated patients."

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