Study seeks families affected by anorexia

UCLA researchers are seeking families with at least two members who have or have had anorexia nervosa for an international genetic study of the eating disorder, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Eligible participants will be required to complete a questionnaire booklet, to provide a sample of blood and to participate in some assessments made through a series of personal interviews. The questionnaires and interviews can be done by telephone and the blood can be drawn at a qualified laboratory near the participant. For more information, call (310) 825-9822.

Anorexia is a serious and potentially lethal illness. Up to 95 percent of anorexia sufferers are girls or young women. The disease typically appears in adolescence and affects up to 1percent of young American women. Many more suffer from less intense forms of the disease. Up to 10percent of individuals with anorexia will die, giving it one of the highest death rates of any psychiatric illness.

Symptoms of anorexia can involve refusal to maintain a normal, healthy body weight; intense fear of weight gain; feeling overweight despite dramatic weight loss; loss of menstrual cycle; and obsession with body weight and shape. Warning signs encompass preoccupation with weight, food, calories and dieting, along with dramatic weight loss; refusal to eat certain foods; frequent comments about feeling fat; extreme anxiety about gaining weight; denial of hunger; and eating rituals, such as eating food in the same order.

Potential health consequences can include dangerously low blood pressure and heart rate that could lead to heart failure; osteoporosis, resulting in weak, dry and brittle bones; muscle loss and weakness; severe dehydration resulting in kidney failure; loss of hair; dry skin; and growth of lanugo, a downy covering of very fine hair that is all over the body and serves to conserve body heat.

Most experts believe anorexia nervosa is caused partly by genes and partly by cultural influences. Individuals with anorexia have low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which controls appetite and could contribute to anxiety and other disease traits. In addition, certain personality traits such as perfectionism, may contribute to anorexia.

Anorexia is very difficult to treat, but chances are better if the illness is detected early. Individual or group talk therapy is used often. Antidepressants such as Prozac may help prevent relapse in individuals who've regained normal weight. Some patients require hospitalization and intense therapy to recover.

Led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the five-year, $10million study conducted at 13 sites in North America and Europe is the first governmentfunded genetic study of anorexia. Overall, the research teams seek to recruit 400 families.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of North Carolina, Michigan State

University and Georgia State University will manage the genetic and psychological data. The medical and psychological data and DNA (derived from blood samples) will become part of an international archival resource for genetic studies of anorexia through the National Institute of Mental Health Genetics Initiative.

The research will build on recent genetic studies supported by the Price Foundation, a private, Europe-based foundation that included most of the same investigators. The Price Foundation studies already have pointed to four regions of the genome to look for genes affecting susceptibility to anorexia. Because this is such a complex disease, a large number of families will be needed to understand the genetic basis.