PURPOSE We systematically assessed the efficacy and safety of appetite stimulants in the management of cancer-related anorexia. Literature databases were searched for randomized controlled trials of appetite stimulants in the treatment of cancer anorexia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Studies were graded according to quality. Fifty-five studies met inclusion criteria. RESULTS Only two drugs have ev...

Many patients with advanced cancer undergo a wasting syndrome characterized by anorexia, loss of weight, asthenia, and a poor prognosis, referred to as the cancer anorexia/cachexia syndrome. In defining these terms further, anorexia describes loss of appetite and/or an aversion to food. The term “cachexia” refers to a loss of body mass, including lean body mass and fat, in the setting of a dise...

Anorexia nervosa is a clinically significant illness that may be associated with permanent medical complications involving almost every organ system. The paper raises a question whether some of them are associated with premorbid vulnerability such as subcellular ion channel abnormalities ('channelopathy') that determines the clinical expression of the bodily response to self-imposed malnutritio...

BACKGROUND To examine the epidemiology of anorexia nervosa in men, we screened Finnish male twins born in 1975-79. METHODS AND FINDINGS Men (N = 2122) from FinnTwin16 birth cohorts were screened for lifetime eating disorders by a questionnaire. The screen positives (N = 18), their male co-twins (N = 10) and those with lifetime minimum BMI< or =17.5 (N = 21) were administered the Structured Cl...

OBJECTIVE To identify the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing conditions in referred anorexic adolescents. METHOD Child Behavior CheckList (CBCL) and Youth Self Report (YSR) were used to assess psychopathology: (a) in the global sample (43 adolescents); (b) in different subtypes of anorexia; (c) considering the timing of admission after the onset of the disease. RESULTS A high per...

Anorexia nervosa is an important cause of physical and psychosocial morbidity. Recent years have brought advances in understanding of the underlying psychobiology that contributes to illness onset and maintenance. Genetic factors influence risk, psychosocial and interpersonal factors can trigger onset, and changes in neural networks can sustain the illness. Substantial advances in treatment, pa...

OBJECTIVE The author's goal was to shed light on the debate regarding the mortality rate over time associated with anorexia nervosa. METHOD He conducted a meta-analytic study using weighted linear regression to combine crude mortality proportions from 42 published studies to estimate the mortality associated with anorexia nervosa over time. RESULTS The crude rate of mortality due to all cau...

Anorexia nervosa as a psychiatric disorder presents itself through the concreteness of symptoms. Emotions are experienced as a corporeality here-and-now. In a companion article, Part I, different 'body metaphors' are described and categorised. The human body functions as metaphor, and in anorexia nervosa there is a striking closeness between emotions and different bodily experiences. This is in...

This study examines clinical features of late onset anorexia nervosa. This involved the scrutiny of a large database of patients with anorexia nervosa comprising data gathered at standardized initial assessments over the period 1960-1990. Patients with a late onset were compared to other selected patient samples. The population comprised 12 patients with a first onset of anorexia nervosa at or ...

Elander L, Engström L, Hallbeck M, Blomqvist A. IL-1 and LPS induce anorexia by distinct mechanisms differentially dependent on microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 292: R258–R267, 2007. First published August 31, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00511.2006.—Recent work demonstrated that the febrile response to peripheral immune stimulation with proinflammatory...