Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K A Halmi

Publications and source records attributed to K A Halmi.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Unique features associated with age of onset of anorexia nervosa.

The relationship between age of onset of anorexia nervosa and a variety of personal characteristics was examined in 105 patients. Age of onset of anorexia nervosa had a bimodal distribution, with peaks at 14 1/2 and 18 years. The patients whose onset of illness occurred at the later age tended to have a greater weight loss during their illness, more "underweight problems" before the onset of illness, less of the typical anorectic behaviors and attitudes, greater body disparagement, more symptoms of depression, and a greater number of previous hospitalizations. These associations suggest that an older age of onset of anorexia nervosa might predict a poor outcome.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Caloric requirements for weight gain in anorexia nervosa.

The caloric requirements for weight gain were studied in 29 patients during 35 days of treatment for anorexia nervosa. Associations between the caloric requirements for weight gain and the amount of body weight depletion at the beginning of treatment were analyzed. There was a positive correlation between the percentage standard weight on the 1st day of treatment and the excess calories required to gain a kilogram. This highly significant correlation was possibly due to differences in type to tissue formed and/or an increase in metabolic rate as part of an adaptive response, as the patient nears target weight.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Behaviour therapy in anorexia nervosa.

In three collaborating hospitals, 81 anorexia nervosa patients were randomly assigned to behaviour modification or its absence and followed over 35 days. There was no overall significant difference in weight gain in the two groups except in a subset of patients: those with no prior out-patient treatments.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1979

Disturbances in body image estimation as related to other characteristics and outcome in anorexia nervosa.

Body image distortion in 79 female anorexia nervosa patients were examined on a visual-size estimation apparatus during the emaciated stage of illness. Both they and an age-matched female control group overestimated their body widths, so this overestimation cannot be considered unique to anorexia nervosa. Among anorexia patients the degree of overestimation was associated with less weight gain during treatment, greater denial of illness, and several other pretreatment characteristics indicative of poor outcome.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Cyproheptadine in anorexia nervosa.

In three hospitals 81 female patients satisfying rigorous diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa were randomly allocated to one of four treatment combinations of cyproheptadine and placebo with behaviour therapy and no behaviour therapy. Cyproheptadine was found to be effective in inducing weight gain in a subgroup of anorexia nervosa patients who (a) had a history of birth delivery complications, (b) had lost 41-52 per cent weight from norm and (c) had a history of prior outpatient treatment failure. This subgroup may represent a more severe form of anorexia nervosa.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1979

Pretreatment predictors of outcome in anorexia nervosa.

The relationship of selected pretreatment characteristics to weight gain during treatment was examined in 81 anorexia nervosa patients. Good prognostic indicators correlating positively with weight gain were: no previous hospitalizations for anorexia nervosa, a great amount of overactivity before treatment, less denial of illness, less psychosexual immaturity and the admission to feeling hunger. A perinatal history of delivery complications was associated with the poor outcome predictor of prior hospitalizations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Catecholamine metabolism in anorexia nervosa.

Urinary catecholamine levels were measured in 25 anorexia nervosa patients at the time when they were acutely ill with secondary depressive symptoms and again after treatment and weight gain to see whether changes in weight, activity levels, and symptoms of depression occurring during treatment might be associated with changes in urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) concentrations. The latter was significantly lower in the acutely ill anorectics than in the control group. An increase in urinary MHPG concentration after treatment was significantly correlated with a decrease in depressive symptomatology. The increase in urinary MHPG level during treatment did not correlate significantly with change in patient's activity level. There seems to be a relationship between MHPG and the symptom of depression in a group of patients who do not carry a primary diagnosis of depression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

An investigation of weights in the parents of anorexia nervosa patients.

Although large series studies of anorexia nervosa families have found a greater than expected occurrence of anorexia nervosa in family members, there are no reports of the anorectic's parents' weights during the time of the patient's illness. An unusual degree of weight aberrations present in the parents at the time of the patient's illness could represent both a genetic and noxious environmental influence for the development of anorexia nervosa. In order to examine the possibility that weight aberrations may be more frequent in anorectic patients' parents, we obtained height and weight measurements from the parents of 30 anorexia nervosa patients. The parents were compared with 30 control families in which the father was matched for age, level of education, occupation, and salary to the patient's father. Matching the control group for socioeconomic status was necessary since previous studies have shown a relationship between socioeconomic status and weight. An analysis of covariance showed no difference between the weight of the patient and control parents, although a significant relationship between educational level and weight was present.

Anorexia Nervosa↗
PubMed1978

Anorexia nervosa: recent investigations.

In this paper, I have: 1. described the typological diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, 2. discussed recent hematological, lipid, electrolyte, gastrointestinal, and electrocardiographic studies in anorexia nervosa, and 3. reviewed recent endocrine investigations including thyroid, adrenal cortical, gonadotropin, growth hormone, and catecholamine studies in anorexia nervosa. Although all of the reviewed studies have contributed greatly to the formation of descriptive criteria for anorexia nervosa, they have not supported any single hypothesis concerning the etiology of anorexia nervosa. Further studies are needed to ascertain relationships between the typical anorectic behavior and the endocrine and catecholamine changes observed in this disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Perceptual distortion of body image in adolescent girls: distortion of body image in adolescence.

Body image estimations in 86 normal-weight adolescent girls showed (a) a tendency to overestimate body width and underestimate body length and (b) an association between the younger ages and the extent of overestimation of body width. In particular there is a sharp drop in overestimation between ages 10 and 11 and thereafter a more gradual and non-significant decline. These age-specific normative data are useful in assessing body image distortions in a variety of medical and psychiatric disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Treatment of anorexia nervosa with behavior modification. Effectiveness of formula feeding and isolation.

Anorexia nervosa has been treated with a variety of therapies. One seemingly successful modality, behavioral modification, has in most cases been used concurrently with various drugs, making the contributions of each impossible to separate. Eight patients meeting rigorous criteria for anorexia nervosa were treated in this study exclusively with behavioral therapy (reward contingent on weight gain). All had a substantial weight gain while hospitalized, and on short-term follow-up are maintaining or continuing to gain toward their normal weight range on individualized positive-reinforcement programs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Gonadotropin response to LH-RH in anorexia nervosa.

The gonadotropin-ovary axis of patients with anorexia nervosa was assessed with the aim of distinguishing between an intrinsically hypophysial deficiency and pituitary malfunction secondary to hypothalamic impairment. The most consistent endocrine abnormality was low serum luteinizing and follicle stimulating hormone (LH and FSH) levels associated with depressed serum estradiol levels. Gonadotropin levels responded to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH), thus indicating a primarily hypothalamic dysfunction. The increase in serum FSH was at least as great as that of LH. The LH levels were additionally depressed and their increase after LH-RH injection somewhat blunted by three-day treatment with ethinyl estradiol.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Familial trisomy 7 mosaicism.

A trisomy 7 mosaicism (46, XX/47, XX+7) was identified by quinacrine mustard fluorescence studies in a psychiatric patient and in her daughter who also had mental illness. The aetiology of the trisomy 7 mosaicism in two generations of this family is postulated to involve an autosomal dominant gene as initially described by Zellweger and Abbo in 1965.

Chromosomes↗
PubMed1975

LH and FSH response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone in anorexia nervosa: Effect of nutritional rehabilitation.

The LH and FSH responses to the administration of synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) were assessed in 14 patients with anorexia nervosa before, during and following weight gain. In 8 patients studied prior to therapy when they were at 53-64% of idal body weight, the LH response to GnRH was strikingly impaired while the FSH response was equal to that observed in normally menstruating women. After return to 79-88% of ideal body weight the LH response was improved but remained less than in the normal women. In a second group of 6 patients who were studied 4-11 months after hospital discharge when they were 90-94% of ideal body weight, the LH response was always equal to or greater than that found in the normal women. The serum estradiol concentration was low in all of the patients and remained less than 33 pg/ml even in those who returned to more than 90% of ideal body weight. Treatment with 25 mug of ethinyl estradiol for 3 days prior to repeat administration of GnRH did not result in a statistically significant increase of the LH or FSH responses above those before treatment. These data suggest changes occur in both hypothalamic and pituitary regulation of gonadotropin secretion in the course of nutritional rehabilitation of patients with anorexia nervosa and that synthesis and secretion of LH and FSH are modulated independently at the level of the pituitary gland.

Adolescent↗