Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Production Rate of Cortisol Declines during Recovery from Anorexia Nervosa*

1981; Oxford University Press; Volume: 53; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1210/jcem-53-1-203

1945-7197

B. Timothy Walsh, Jack L. Katz, Joseph Levin, Jacob Kream, David K. Fukushima, Herbert Weiner, Barnett Zumoff,

Diet and metabolism studies

ABSTRACT. The plasma concentration of cortisol is elevated i n many patients with anorexia nervosa. It has remained unclear whether this elevation of plasma cortisol level is due only to a slowing of the rate of cortisol metabolism or whether there is, as well, an increase in adrenal secretory activity in anorexia ner-vosa. We studied adrenocortical activity in 9 female patients and one male patient with anorexia nervosa before and during recovery. The 24-h mean levelof plasma cortisol and the rate of urinary free cortisol excretion decreased during recovery, from 11.4 to 7.4 μβdl and from 225 to 116 μβday, respectively (P < 0.005.and P < 0.10, paired ttest). These changes were associated with a significant decline in the rate of cortisol production from 24.3 to 17.9 mgβday as measured by radioisotope dilution (P < 0.005). These results suggest that adrenal secretory activity is increasedin anorexia nervosa and that the elevation of plasma cortisol level observed in this syndrome reflects not only a slowing of cortisol metabolism but also a rise in cortisol production.