Refeeding normalizes the QT rate dependence of female anorexic patients

We postulated that dynamic alterations in QT interval adaptation could characterize patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and could be restored after weight gain. To assess ventricular repolarization features, we evaluated the QT dynamicity along RR intervals from 24-hour electrocardiographic data of patients with AN before and after refeeding. Ten young women with AN (19 ± 3 years) were included in the study. The QT/RR slope was found significantly enhanced compared with normals (−1.82 ± 0.62 vs −1.40 ± 0.30; p < 0.05). This slope returned to normal range values after refeeding. The QT/RR slope was significantly correlated with the body mass index (r = 0.59; p < 0.007) in the patient group.