Cortisol responses on the dexamethasone suppression test among women with Bulimia-spectrum eating disorders: Associations with clinical symptoms

IntroductionEvidence associates Bulimia Nervosa (BN) with altered functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, but the clinical implications of such alterations need to be better understood. We contrasted cortisol responses to the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) in bulimic and non-eating disordered women and examined relationships among DST cortisol responses, eating symptoms and co-morbid disturbances.MethodSixty women with Bulimia Spectrum (BS) Disorders (either BN or normal weight Eating Disorder NOS with regular binge eating or purging) and 54 non-eating disordered women of similar age and body mass index participated in a 0.5 mg DST, and completed interviews and questionnaires assessing eating symptoms and co-morbid psychopathology.ResultsCompared with the normal-eater group, the BS women demonstrated significantly less DST suppression. Among BS women, DST non-suppression was associated with more severe depression, anxiety and eating preoccupations.ConclusionsOur findings show BS women to show less DST suppression compared to normal eater women, and results link extent of non-suppression, in BS individuals, to severity of depression, anxiety and eating preoccupations.

► Examined dexamethsone suppression test responses in Bulimia Nervosa. ► Compared with controls, women with Bulimia Nervosa showed greater non-suppression. ► Non-suppression was associated with depression, anxiety and eating preoccupations.