Psychotropic medication use in anorexia nervosa between 1997 and 2009

Objective: Despite a lack of data demonstrating benefit, psychotropic medications are frequently prescribed for patients with anorexia nervosa. Method: We studied 525 women (18–54 years of age) with anorexia nervosa who presented to the Clinical Research Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The International journal of eating disorders 2012-12, Vol.45 (8), p.970-976
Main Authors: Fazeli, Pouneh K., Calder, Genevieve L., Miller, Karen K., Misra, Madhusmita, Lawson, Elizabeth A., Meenaghan, Erinne, Lee, Hang, Herzog, David, Klibanski, Anne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anorexia
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa - diagnosis
Anorexia Nervosa - drug therapy
Anorexia Nervosa - epidemiology
Anorexia Nervosa - psychology
Antidepressive Agents - adverse effects
Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use
Antipsychotic Agents - adverse effects
Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use
Atypical Antipsychotic
Comorbidity
Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data
Drug therapy
Drug Utilization - trends
Eating disorders
Female
Humans
Massachusetts
Middle Aged
Psychotropic drugs
Psychotropic Drugs - adverse effects
Psychotropic Drugs - therapeutic use
SSRI
Studies
Treatment Failure
Womens health
Young Adult
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Summary:Objective: Despite a lack of data demonstrating benefit, psychotropic medications are frequently prescribed for patients with anorexia nervosa. Method: We studied 525 women (18–54 years of age) with anorexia nervosa who presented to the Clinical Research Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital between January 1997 and December 2009. For this analysis, participants were a priori divided into two groups based on date of presentation (Group I: participants presenting between 1997 and 2002; Group II: participants presenting between 2003 and 2009). Results: Overall, 53% of participants reported current use of any psychotropic medication; 48.4% reported use of an antidepressant and 13% reported use of an antipsychotic. Twice as many participants in Group II (18.5%) reported using atypical antipsychotics as compared to Group I (8.9%) (p = 0.002). Discussion: A majority of participants with anorexia nervosa report using psychotropic medications despite lack of data supporting their efficacy. These data are concerning given the known adverse effects of these medications. © 2012 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2012)
ISSN:0276-3478
1098-108X
DOI:10.1002/eat.22037