Nutritional status of women with anorexia nervosa. Morphofunctional assessment

To provide a descriptive analysis of the nutritional status of a sample of women with anorexia nervosa (AN).

Descriptive observational study of women attending an outpatient clinic for AN.

Thirty-five patients were evaluated, with a mean age of 23.6 ± 10.7 years and a body mass index of 18.3 ± 3.53 kg/m². A total of 73.52% were malnourished (40 % with severe malnutrition). Muscle strength was 24.3 ± 3.53 kg; 16 patients (55.88%) showed strength below the 20th percentile, but only 3 fell below the cutoff defining sarcopenia. Muscle mass variables assessed included: appendicular skeletal muscle mass, 14.7 ± 2.47 kg/m²; fat-free mass index, 14.8 ± 1.47 kg/m²; appendicular skeletal muscle mass index, 5.52 ± 0.629 kg/m²; anteroposterior diameter of the rectus femoris muscle (Y-axis), 1.18 ± 0.32 cm; and cross-sectional area of the same muscle, 3.54 ± 1.29 cm². The ratio of the lateral diameter of the rectus femoris (X-axis) to the Y-axis, used as an index of muscle quality, was 3.09 ± 1.17. Patients with severe malnutrition had lower adipose tissue content and reduced appendicular skeletal muscle mass compared with the rest of the cohort. Phase angle was 5.85 ± 0.77°, and standardized phase angle was -0.92 ± 0.89. Both showed a good positive correlation with body cell mass.

Malnutrition is extremely prevalent among patients with AN; however, sarcopenia-according to conventional criteria-is not. Morphofunctional differences were observed according to nutritional status.