Abstract
Objective: To compare general and eating disorder-specific psychopathology in patients with acute anorexia nervosa (acAN), weight-recovered patients (recAN) and healthy control women (HCW). Methods: One hundred anorexia nervosa patients (66 acAN and 34 recAN) and 88 HCW were included in our study. Psychopathology was assessed by self-report questionnaires [Symptom Check List 90 Revised (SCL-90-R), Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI- 2)] as well as by interview [Structured Interview of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimic Syndromes (SIAB-EX)] and compared using multivariate analysis of variance. Plasma leptin levels were determined using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Mean comparisons indicated highly significant differences between acAN and recAN subjects on all psychopatholgy variables, except for perfectionism. RecAN subjects did not differ from HCW. Partial weight recovery was associated with decreasing levels of psychopathology. Correlational analyses suggested strong negative associations between leptin levels and psychopathology. Conclusion: Prolonged malnutrition, as indicated by suppressed plasma leptin levels, is strongly related to eating disorder-specific as well as general psychopathological symptoms. Weight recovery is associated with the absence of psychopathology. These data emphasize the interaction between somatic and psychological variables.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). Washington D.C., American Psychiatric Association, 1994.
World Health Organization. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10). Geneva, World Health Organization, 2005.
Gianotti L., Lanfranco F., Ramunni J., Destefanis S., Ghigo E., Arvat E.: GH/IGF-I axis in anorexia nervosa. Eat. Weight Disord., 7, 94–105, 2002.
Krassas G.E.: Endocrine abnormalities in Anorexia Nervosa. Pediatr. Endocrinol. Rev., 1, 46–54, 2003.
Hebebrand J., Muller T.D., Holtkamp K., Herpertz- Dahlmann B.: The role of leptin in anorexia nervosa: clinical implications. Mol. Psychiatry, 12, 23–35, 2007.
Castro-Fornieles J., Gual P., Lahortiga F., Gila A., Casula V., Fuhrmann C., Imirizaldu M., Saura B., Martinez E., Toro J.: Self-oriented perfectionism in eating disorders. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 40, 562–568, 2007.
Steinhausen H.-C.: Anorexia nervosa. Göttingen, Hogrefe, 2005.
Ribases M., Gratacos M., Fernandez-Aranda F., Bellodi L., Boni C., Anderluh M., Cristina Cavallini M., Cellini E., Di Bella D., Erzegovesi S., Foulon C., Gabrovsek M., Gorwood P., Hebebrand J., Hinney A., Holliday J., Hu X., Karwautz A., Kipman A., Komel R., Nacmias B., Remschmidt H., Ricca V., Sorbi S., Tomori M., Wagner G., Treasure J., Collier D.A., Estivill X.: Association of BDNF with restricting anorexia nervosa and minimum body mass index: a family-based association study of eight European populations. Eur. J. Hum. Genet., 13, 428–434, 2005.
Kakizaki M., Kuriyama S., Sato Y., Shimazu T., Matsuda-Ohmori K., Nakaya N., Fukao A., Fukudo S., Tsuji I.: Personality and body mass index: a cross-sectional analysis from the Miyagi Cohort Study. J. Psychosom. Res., 64, 71–80, 2008.
Kaye W.: Neurobiology of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Physiol. Behav., 94, 121–135, 2008.
Green M.W., Elliman N.A., Wakeling A., Rogers P.J.: Cognitive functioning, weight change and therapy in anorexia nervosa. J. Psychiatr. Res., 30, 401–410, 1996.
Fichter M.M., Quadflieg N., Hedlund S.: Twelve-year course and outcome predictors of anorexia nervosa. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 39, 87–100, 2006.
Stanga Z., Field J., Iff S., Stucki A., Lobo D.N., Allison S.P.: The effect of nutritional management on the mood of malnourished patients. Clin. Nutr., 26, 379–382, 2007.
Bardone-Cone A.M., Wonderlich S.A., Frost R.O., Bulik C.M., Mitchell J.E., Uppala S., Simonich H.: Perfectionism and eating disorders: current status and future directions. Clin. Psychol. Rev., 27, 384–405, 2007.
Holtkamp K., Muller B., Heussen N., Remschmidt H., Herpertz-Dahlmann B.: Depression, anxiety, and obsessionality in long-term recovered patients with adolescent-onset anorexia nervosa. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 14, 106–110, 2005.
Wagner A., Greer P., Bailer U.F., Frank G.K., Henry S.E., Putnam K., Meltzer C.C., Ziolko S.K., Hoge J., McConaha C., Kaye W.H.: Normal brain tissue volumes after long-term recovery in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Biol. Psychiatry, 59, 291–293, 2006.
Hebebrand J., Himmelmann G.W., Herzog W., Herpertz-Dahlmann B.M., Steinhausen H.C., Amstein M., Seidel R., Deter H.C., Remschmidt H., Schafer H.: Prediction of low body weight at long-term follow-up in acute anorexia nervosa by low body weight at referral. Am. J. Psychiatry, 154, 566–569, 1997.
Steiner H., Lock J.: Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in children and adolescents: a review of the past 10 years. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 37, 352–359, 1998.
Bardone-Cone A.M., Sturm K., Lawson M.A., Robinson D.P., Smith R.: Perfectionism across stages of recovery from eating disorders. Int J Eat Disord, 2009.
Kromeyer-Hauschild K., Wabitsch M., Kunze D., Geller D., Geiss H.C., Hesse V., Hippel A., von J., U., Johnsen D., Korte W., Menner K., Müller G., Müller J.M., Niemann-Pilatus A., Remer T., Schaefer F., Wittchen H.-U., Zabransky S., Zellner K., Ziegler A., Hebebrand J.: Perzentile für den Body Mass Index für das Kindesund Jugendalter unter Heranziehung verschiedener deutscher Stichproben. Monatsschrift für Kinderheilkunde, 149, 807–818, 2001.
Bachner-Melman R., Zohar A.H., Ebstein R.P.: An examination of cognitive versus behavioral components of recovery from anorexia nervosa. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 194, 697–703, 2006.
Halmi K.A., Sunday S.R., Strober M., Kaplan A., Woodside D.B., Fichter M., Treasure J., Berrettini W.H., Kaye W.H.: Perfectionism in anorexia nervosa: variation by clinical subtype, obsessionality, and pathological eating behavior. Am. J. Psychiatry, 157, 1799–1805, 2000.
Nilsson K., Sundbom E., Hagglof B.: A longitudinal study of perfectionism in adolescent onset anorexia nervosa-restricting type. Eur. Eat. Disord. Rev., 16, 386–394, 2008.
Galusca B., Costes N., Zito N.G., Peyron R., Bossu C., Lang F., Le Bars D., Estour B.: Organic background of restrictive-type anorexia nervosa suggested by increased serotonin 1A receptor binding in right frontotemporal cortex of both lean and recovered patients: [18F]MPPF PET scan study. Biol. Psychiatry, 64, 1009–1013, 2008.
Smoller J.W., Wadden T.A., Stunkard A.J.: Dieting and depression: a critical review. J. Psychosom. Res., 31, 429–440, 1987.
Meehan K.G., Loeb K.L., Roberto C.A., Attia E.: Mood change during weight restoration in patients with anorexia nervosa. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 39, 587–589, 2006.
Lu X.Y.: The leptin hypothesis of depression: a potential link between mood disorders and obesity? Curr. Opin. Pharmacol., 7, 648–652, 2007.
Shanley L.J., Irving A.J., Harvey J.: Leptin enhances NMDA receptor function and modulates hippocampal synaptic plasticity. J. Neurosci., 21, RC186, 2001.
Lu X.Y., Kim C.S., Frazer A., Zhang W.: Leptin: a potential novel antidepressant. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 103, 1593–1598, 2006.
Golden N.H., Ashtari M., Kohn M.R., Patel M., Jacobson M.S., Fletcher A., Shenker I.R.: Reversibility of cerebral ventricular enlargement in anorexia nervosa, demonstrated by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. J. Pediatr., 128, 296–301, 1996.
Muhlau M., Gaser C., Ilg R., Conrad B., Leibl C., Cebulla M.H., Backmund H., Gerlinghoff M., Lommer P., Schnebel A., Wohlschlager A.M., Zimmer C., Nunnemann S.: Gray matter decrease of the anterior cingulate cortex in anorexia nervosa. Am. J. Psychiatry, 164, 1850–1857, 2007.
Stamatakis E.A., Hetherington M.M.: Neuroimaging in eating disorders. Nutr. Neurosci., 6, 325–334, 2003.
Swayze V.W., 2nd, Andersen A.E., Andreasen N.C., Arndt S., Sato Y., Ziebell S.: Brain tissue volume segmentation in patients with anorexia nervosa before and after weight normalization. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 33, 33–44, 2003.
Kingston K., Szmukler G., Andrewes D., Tress B., Desmond P.: Neuropsychological and structural brain changes in anorexia nervosa before and after refeeding. Psychol. Med., 26, 15–28, 1996.
Neumarker K.J., Bzufka W.M., Dudeck U., Hein J., Neumarker U.: Are there specific disabilities of number processing in adolescent patients with Anorexia nervosa? Evidence from clinical and neuropsychological data when compared to morphometric measures from magnetic resonance imaging. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 9, Suppl. 2, II111–121, 2000.
Ahima R.S., Bjorbaek C., Osei S., Flier J.S.: Regulation of neuronal and glial proteins by leptin: implications for brain development. Endocrinology, 140, 2755–2762, 1999.
Matochik J.A., London E.D., Yildiz B.O., Ozata M., Caglayan S., DePaoli A.M., Wong M.L., Licinio J.: Effect of leptin replacement on brain structure in genetically leptin-deficient adults. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 90, 2851–2854, 2005.
Salbach-Andrae H., Klinkowski N., Lenz K., Pfeiffer E., Lehmkuhl U., Ehrlich S.: Correspondence between self-reported and parent-reported psychopathology in adolescents with eating disorders. Psychopathology, 41, 307–312, 2007. Eating Weight Disord., Vol. 14: N. 4 - 2009 e211
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schneider, N., Salbach-Andrae, H., Merle, J.V. et al. Psychopathology in underweight and weight-recovered females with anorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord 14, e205–e211 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325118
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325118