Weight loss in secondary amenorrhea. A gynaecologic, endocrinologic and psychiatric investigation of 54 consecutive clinic cases.

Abstract

Fifty‐four consecutive cases of secondary amenorrhea seen in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Umeå University Hospital were systematically studied from the somatic, endocrinologic and psychiatric points of view. The study showed that 51 patients had lost weight at or about the time of onset of amenorrhea and that 41 of these had symptoms characteristic of anorexia nervosa; some were cachectic. In none of these cases was there any reason to suspect a primary endocrine disturbance. On the other hand, two of the patients who had not lost weight, had significantIy elevated urinary 17‐ketosteroids in both total and fractional analysis.The connection between starvation, psychogenic amenorrhea and anorexia nervosa is discussed.