Archive 1995–2023

Objectives. Management of anorexia nervosa (AN) should be multidirectional and the co-occurring symptoms may require pharmacotherapy. The aim of our study was to retrospectively analyze factors, which may affect selection of pharmacological treatment of AN and its impact on BMI as well as the severity of the symptoms of eating disorders, depression, obsessions and compulsions.
Material and methods. The study included 80 adolescent patients, in whom differences in the degree of malnutrition and severity of the symptoms were evaluated both at the beginning as well as at the end of the hospitalization. Retrospective analyses of the pharmacological treatment were conducted – 33 patients were not taking any medication, 22 were treated with NaSSA, 13 with SSRI and 12 with olanzapine.
Results. Depending on the applied pharmacological treatment, the patients showed different values of BMI at the beginning and at the end of the hospitalization, but they did not show differences in BMI increase or in the rate of BMI increase. Furthermore, in the analyzed subgroups, the severity of the symptoms of eating disorders and depression were significantly different before the pharmacological treatment, however, not at the end.
Conclusions. Pharmacologically untreated patients had less severe course of the disease than those who were treated. Using medications in patients with more severe course of the disease resulted in the improvement of psychopathological symptoms and their severity was comparable to that presented by patients with a less severe course of the disease. These results may indicate the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy in more severe cases of AN.