title: Leptin and its associations with measures of psychopathology in patients with anorexia nervosa.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, CVK, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany. stefan.ehrlich@charite.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ehrlich
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burghardt
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.forename: Deike
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lehmkuhl
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salbach-Andrae
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011599:Psychopathology; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D020738:Leptin