SERUM LEPTIN AND BODY-WEIGHT IN FEMALES WITH ANOREXIA AND BULIMIA-NERVOSA

In this study we hypothesized that there is a correlation between seru m leptin levels and body mass indices within patients with anorexia ne rvosa or bulimia nervosa during a twelve weeks' course of in-patient t reatment. We evaluated leptin levels weekly in female in-patients with anorexia (n = 17) or bulimia nervosa (n = 18), Only patients with ano rexia nervosa were therapeutically encouraged to gain weight throughou t the treatment episode. For the whole cohort, body mass indices and s erum leptin levels were highly correlated upon admission (r = 0.89, p < 0.001). The median intra-individual correlation in the anorexia grou p was higher than in the bulimia group (0.63 and 0.39, respectively). The intra-individual correlations were higher in those anorexia nervos a patients who showed increments of their body mass index within the o bservation span. This dynamic aspect is important specifically in pati ents with anorexia nervosa during therapeutically induced weight gain.