RSS Feeds
Anorexia Nervosa and Sudden Death
- JEFFREY M. ISNER, M.D.;
- WILLIAM C. ROBERTS, M.D.;
- STEVEN B. HEYMSFIELD, M.D.; and
- JOEL YAGER, M.D.
Abstract
Necropsy findings and electrocardiograms from three women with anorexia nervosa were reviewed. Necropsy examination failed to establish an anatomic cause of death. Electrocardiograms recorded 7 days or less before death showed various degrees of Q-T interval prolongation: Q-T invervals corrected for heart rate measured 0.61 s, 0.47 s, and 0.46 s, respectively. Terminal ventricular tachyarrhythmias were documented in two patients, including torsade de pointes in one. The necropsy and clinical findings in these three cases provide evidence that sudden death in anorexia nervosa, like sudden death in liquid-protein dieting, may result from ventricular tachyarrhythmias related to Q-T interval prolongation. For such patients, electrocardiographic monitoring should be routine.
Article and Author Information
-
▸From the Departments of Medicine (Cardiology) and Pathology, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts; Pathology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; and the Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
-
▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Jeffrey Isner, M.D., F.A.C.P.; Box 70, New England Medical Center, 171 Harrison Avenue; Boston, MA 02111.
