Anorexic premenopausal women: positive effect of oral contraceptives on bone mineral density
| Study design | Reference | No of patients | OC exposure | Measurement of BMD/bone metabolism | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OC, Oral contraceptive; BMD, bone mineral density; AN, anorexia nervosa; DXA, dual energy x ray absorptiometry. | |||||
| Cross sectional | Seeman et al72 | 117 women (65 with AN: 12 with 1° amenorrhoea, 16 with 2° amenorrhoea taking OCs, 37 with 2° amenorrhoea not taking OCs; 52 healthy controls) | OC users v non-users | Lumbar spine, total body, proximal femur DXA | Higher BMD in healthy control women than in women with AN; greater mean lumbar spine BMD in women with AN taking OCs than in women with AN not taking OCs |
| Karlsson et al73 | 366 women (77 non-OC users with AN, 58 OC users with AN, 26 women recovered from AN; 205 healthy controls) | OC users v non-users | Areal BMD by DXA, volumetric BMD calculated | Higher BMD in healthy control women than in women with AN; greatest reduction in BMD was in non-OC users with AN; lesser reduction in OC users with AN; least reduction in women recovered from AN | |