A naturalistic study of plasma lipid alterations in female patients with anorexia nervosa before and after weight restoration treatment

Plasma lipid concentrations in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) seem to be altered. We conducted a naturalistic study with 75 adult female patients with AN and 26 healthy female controls (HC). We measured plasma lipid profile, sex hormones and used self-report questionnaires at admission and discharge. Total cholesterol (median (IQR): 4.9 (1.2)) and triglycerides (TG) (1.2 (0.8)) were elevated in AN at admission (BMI 15.3 (3.4)) compared with HC (4.3 (0.7), p = 0.003 and 0.9 (0.3), p = 0.006) and remained elevated at discharge (BMI 18.9 (2.9)) after weight restoration treatment. Estradiol (0.05 (0.1)) and testosterone (0.5 (0.7)) were lower in AN compared with HC (0.3 (0.3), p =