gms | German Medical Science

Background: The study intended to compare bone density and architecture in three groups of women: young patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), age-matched control group of young women, and healthy late postmenopausal women.

Material/Methods: Three-dimensional peripheral quantitative high resolution computed-tomography (HR-pQCT) at the ultra distal radius, a technology providing measures of cortical and trabecular bone density and microarchitecture, was performed in three female local groups. Thirty-six women with AN aged 18–30 years (mean duration of AN: 5.8 years), thirty age-matched healthy women as well as 83 healthy late postmenopausal women aged 70–81 were assessed.

Results: The absolute number of trabecules (TbN) per mm area at the ultra distal radius of female patients with AN and healthy postmenopausal women was significantly lower than in young healthy participants. Interestingly, mean thickness of trabecules (TbTh) and the overall density of bone (cortical and trabecular, D100) was significantly lower only in healthy postmenopausal women compared to young AN patients and young healthy women. The same pattern was found for the cortical bone (Dcomp) and the absolute thickness of the cortex, which was significantly lower only in healthy late postmenopausal women compared to patients with AN and healthy young women.

Discussion: The study showed that the deterioration patterns of bone microarchitecture in the life span of the woman, and in AN are complex. Especially troubling is the significant reduced number of the trabecules in both young AN patients, and in healthy late postmenopausal women, compare with young healthy women. These findings underline the severe affection of bone in AN.