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Leptin and its associations with measures of psychopathology in patients with anorexia nervosa

  • Biological Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Original Article
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Abstract

Apart from energy homeostasis leptin has been shown to be involved in a number of neuronal networks. The aim of this study was to investigate how the residual variance of leptin levels, after controlling for BMI, is linked to eating-disorder-specific psychopathology and sexual desire in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) compared to healthy controls. The sample included 57 subjects with acute AN and 77 healthy controls. Psychopathology was determined by EDI-2 and SCL-90-R and sexual problems were rated according to the Structured Interview of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimic Syndromes (SIAB-EX). Plasma leptin was assessed by ELISA. Patients with a high drive for thinness had lower leptin levels at a given BMI and low leptin levels were associated with sexual problems, i.e. the absence of sexual desire and intimate relationships. Our results are in accordance with recent animal experiments linking low leptin levels with decreased sexual interest irrespective of body weight.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank R. Schott for help with the recruitment of the participants and P. I. Pohl for help with the manuscript preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, CVK, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany

    Stefan Ehrlich, Roland Burghardt, Nora Schneider, Deike Weiss, Ernst Pfeiffer, Ulrike Lehmkuhl & Harriet Salbach-Andrae

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, CCM, Berlin, Germany

    Stefan Ehrlich & Jakob Hein

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  1. Stefan Ehrlich
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  2. Roland Burghardt
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Correspondence to Stefan Ehrlich.

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Ehrlich, S., Burghardt, R., Schneider, N. et al. Leptin and its associations with measures of psychopathology in patients with anorexia nervosa. J Neural Transm 116, 109–115 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0151-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0151-3

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