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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Using the Activity-based Anorexia Rodent Model to Study the Neurobiological Basis of Anorexia Nervosa
Published on: October 22, 2015
[Cardiac complications of anorexia nervosa]
Claudia Ravaldi1, Alfredo Vannacci, Valdo Ricca
1cravald@libero.it
Abstract:
The death rate of anorexia nervosa (AN) patients is up to 30 times greater than that of age-matched normal women. Bradycardia, hypotension and mitral valve prolapse are cardiac abnormalities that can be frequently found in AN patients. Risk of death is substantially linked to QT prolongation, which could be due to hypokalemia (binge/purging type AN) or to a starvation-derived anatomical remodelling of the heart (restricting type AN). The principal risk factors are duration of illness > 10 years, chronic hypokalemia, plasmatic albumin chronically < 3.6 g/dl and absolute QT > or = 600 ms.
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