Association between resting energy expenditure, psychopathology and HPA-axis in eating disorders

Table 1 General and clinical characteristics of the sample

	Anorexia Nervosa; n: 22	Bulimia Nervosa; n: 21	t
Age (yr)	31.73 ± 9.86	27.86 ± 7.12	1.46
Education (yr)	18.13 ± 3.78	18.66 ± 2.67	0.52
BMI (kg/m2)	15.43 ± 2.00	22.96 ± 1.49	-13.8b
REE (kcal/d)	1088 ± 174	1092 ± 207	-0.06
Predicted REE (kcal/d)a	1196 ± 85	1421 ± 207	4.53b
Cortisol levels (mcg/L)	513.65 ± 159.52	496.05 ± 133.22	0.37
TSH (mU/L)	2.14 ± 1.57	1.67 ± 0.70	1.22
FT3 (pmol/L)	3.82 ± 0.98	4.75 ± 0.81	-3.35b
FT4 (pmol/L)	14.10 ± 3.43	14.14 ± 2.29	-0.03
SCL-90 GSI	1.59 ± 0.57	1.52 ± 0.70	0.31
EDE-Q total	3.24 ± 1.59	3.24 ± 1.16	0.08
EDE-Q restraint	3.26 ± 2.23	3.19 ± 1.33	0.11
EDE-Q eating concern	2.86 ± 1.65	2.96 ± 1.38	-0.19
EDE-Q weight concern	3.36 ± 1.54	3.10 ± 1.53	0.54
EDE-Q shape concern	3.48 ± 1.66	3.74 ± 1.09	-0.57
Binge eating episodes (month frequency)		9.7 ± 6.4
Purging behaviours (month frequency)		8.4 ± 5.9

^aCalculated by means of Harris-Benedict equation. Data are expressed as mean ± SD deviation; for between groups comparisons: Independent-Sample t test; ^aP < 0.05;

^bP < 0.01. REE: Resting energy expenditure; BMI: Body mass index; SCL-90 GSI: Symptom checklist (SCL 90-R) global severity index; EDE-Q: Eating disorder examination questionnaire.

Table 2 Pearson’s correlations

	BMI	REE	Cortisol levels	SCL-90 GSI	EDE-Q total	EDE-Q restraint	EDE-Q EC	EDE-Q WC	EDE-Q SC
Anorexia Nervosa patients; n: 22
Age	-0.11	-0.07	-0.05	-0.58a	-0.12	0.06	-0.13	-0.12	0.02
BMI		-0.63b	-0.49a	0.13	-0.32	-0.20	-0.42	-0.25	-0.46a
REE			0.83b	0.10	0.39	0.17	0.33	0.45	0.63b
Cortisol levels				0.68	0.33	0.09	0.28	0.34	0.68b
SCL-90 GSI					0.40	0.34	0.35	0.35	0.76b
Bulimia Nervosa patients; n: 21
Age	-0.16	0.14	-0.04	0.09	0.24	0.38	-0.12	0.42	0.13
BMI		0.59b	0.77	-0.20	0.16	-0.21	0.45a	0.15	0.2
REE			0.24	0.00	0.43	0.33	0.42	0.19	0.46a
Cortisol levels				-0.10	-0.05	0.33	-0.12	0.12	0.23
SCL-90 GSI					0.37	0.28	0.40	-0.02	0.30

Data are Pearson’s correlation coefficients:

^aP < 0.05;

^bP < 0.01. REE: Resting energy expenditure; BMI: Body mass index; SCL-90 GSI: Symptom checklist (SCL 90-R) global severity index; EDE-Q: Eating disorder examination questionnaire; EC: Eating concern; WC: Weight concern; SC: Shape concern.