Psychotropic medication use in anorexia nervosa between 1997 and 2009

Despite a lack of data demonstrating benefit, psychotropic medications are frequently prescribed for patients with anorexia nervosa.

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).

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).

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.