Ghrelin and Obestatin in Adolescent Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: Is There an Association with Disordered Eating, Depression, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms?

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterized by restrictive and significant weight loss. In the course of AN, changes are observed in appetite regulation, including orexigenic ghrelin potentially anorexigenic obestatin. The study aimed to determine if any serum obestatin levels during treatment AN observed, while investigating correlations between these peptides severity disturbed attitudes, depression, anxiety. Thirty adolescent inpatients with (examined twice: before hospitalization AN-BT after AN-AT) thirty healthy age- height-matched girls (CG) participated study. Anthropometric, concentrations psychometric evaluations (Eating Attitudes Test 26 Item-EAT-26, Beck Depression Inventory-BDI, Hamilton Rating Scale-HDRS, Yale Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale-Y-BOCS) were performed. revealed significantly higher than AN-AT. A trend toward lower provided partial normalizations. Analyzing vs. CG group, EAT-26, BDI, HDRS scores detected. These results suggest a potential role for context defense mechanisms regulating body terms psychopathological co-occurring this disorder.