Introduction:

the aim of the study was to describe the electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings in female adolescents with anorexia nervosa and to assess their correlation with clinical variables.

Patients and methods:

we conducted a retrospective observational case-control study. The analysis included 98 female adolescents admitted to a tertiary hospital due to anorexia nervosa over the last 15 years, all of who underwent an electrocardiographic and echocardiographic evaluation.

Results:

the mean age was similar in both groups: 14.6 ± 2.0 years in cases vs. 14.7 ± 2.0 years in controls. Patients with anorexia had significantly lower heart rates (57 ± 12 vs. 72 ± 13 bpm), a smaller R-wave in V5 (1.1 ± 0.5 vs 1.6 ± 0.4 mV) and a lesser left ventricular mass (65.7 ± 14.8 vs 90 ± 15.3 g/m) compared to controls. We found no differences in the QTc interval. In patients with anorexia, the presence of bradycardia was not correlated to weight (r = -0.20, p = 0.05) or body mass index (r = 0.02, p = 0.22) at admission. We found that the left ventricular mass was significantly correlated to the body mass index (r = 0.21, p <0.001,) and the heart rate (r = -0.225, p <0.001).

Conclusions:

cardiac abnormalities were more prevalent in patients with anorexia nervosa. Bradycardia, changes in ventricular repolarization, and a lesser left ventricular mass were the most frequent abnormalities in our sample.

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