HORMONE ASSAY STUDIES IN PATIENTS WITH ANOREXIA NERVOSA

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Serial studies of endocrine function have been performed in 4 female patients and 1 male patient with anorexia nervosa during treatment by refeeding. None of the females menstruated or ovulated at any stage of the investigation. Hormone assay changes were most marked in severely ill patients. Refeeding produced an increase in human pituitary gonadotropin (HPG) output in 2 patients in whom pretreatment levels were below or at the lower end of the normal range. In these 2 subjects a rise in HPG levels during refeeding was associated with an increase in the output of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids and 17 -oxosteroids. In the remaining 3 patients the effect of this treatment on the excretion of these hormones was less marked. Excretion values for dehydroepiandrosterone increased during refeeding in 3 subjects. In the females the relative proportions of estriol, estrone and estradiol in urine were altered by refeeding, proportionally more estriol being excreted.