A Controlled Study of the EEG in Anorexia Nervosa

¹ Professor of Psychiatry, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London, S.W.1.
² Senior Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5

EEG recordings were performed on 32 patients with classical anorexia nervosa before the onset of treatment. A control group matched for age and sex was examined under identical conditions. The recordings were examined blind. A significantly greater number of patients displayed generalized abnormality of the EEG background activity and had unstable responses to hyperventilation. Four patients had bilaterally synchronous fast atypical spike and wave discharges. One control subject, the identical twin of a patient, showed concordance with her sister in this respect. There were significant associations between the prevalence of abnormality of the background rhythms, instability of the hyperventilation response, and the duration of illness and presence of electrolyte depletion. Those patients with stable overbreathing responses tended to have higher blood sugar and lower plasma insulin levels. Severe hypothermia in 2 cases was accompanied by marked slowing of the dominant frequency. The patients with spike and wave discharges had a clinical history of epilepsy, either spontaneous or iatrogenic.

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