LEPTIN IN RELATION TO RESUMPTION OF MENSES IN WOMEN WITH ANOREXIA-NERVOSA

Serum levels of leptin are decreased in underweight AN patients and in crease with weight restoration. To assess the relationship of decrease d leptin levels with other hormonal abnormalities in AN and to evaluat e the possible role of increasing leptin levels, alone or in combinati on with other hormones, in the resumption of menses that accompanies w eight gain, we studied cross-sectionally sixty-five consecutively enro lled AN patients. Subjects were divided in three groups: (I) underweig ht and amenorrheic; (II) weight-recovered but still amenorrheic; and ( III) weight-recovered and eumenorrheic women. Patients in group I had decreased BMI, serum leptin, estradiol (E2), insulin-like growth facto r 1 (IGF-1) and urinary growth hormone (GH) levels and increased sex h ormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels, compared to AN patients in grou ps II and III. Moreover, although no differences in leptin levels or B MI were observed between amenorrheic and eumenorrheic weight-recovered patients (groups II and III), free E2 and GH levels were higher (P<0. 02) in weight-recovered, eumenorrheic women. Thus, it appears that lep tin is a necessary, but not a sufficient, factor for the resumption of menses in AN patients.