A recent longitudinal cohort study analyzed data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance database, involving 22,891 participants, of which 2,081 were diagnosed with anorexia between January 2010 and December 2021.

Conducted by Mei-Chih Meg Tseng, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues from Taipei Medical University, the research highlighted the cardiovascular risks associated with anorexia nervosa.

Published in JAMA Network Open on December 19, 2024, the study found that the incidence of cardiovascular conditions was 6.19% in anorexia patients, nearly double the 2.27% observed in the control group, resulting in an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.93.

The study had a mean follow-up duration of five years, assessing risks for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and other cardiovascular conditions during three distinct time periods post-diagnosis.

During the initial follow-up period, patients with anorexia exhibited heightened risks for congenital heart failure, conduction disorders, and structural heart disease, although these risks diminished after 60 months.

The risk for ischemic heart disease in anorexia patients significantly increased only after 60 months, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 3.01.

Specifically, the risks for congestive heart failure, structural heart disease, and conduction disorders rose in the first 24 months post-diagnosis but declined after five years, while the risk for ischemic heart disease escalated after this period.

Given these findings, clinicians are advised to monitor cardiovascular conditions in anorexia patients at diagnosis, throughout treatment, and during follow-up, as most conditions tend to improve with weight restoration.

The authors emphasize the necessity for ongoing cardiovascular monitoring in patients with anorexia at various treatment stages and suggest that further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of ischemic heart disease outcomes.

However, the study has limitations, including reliance on clinical diagnoses for cardiovascular outcomes, lack of confirmation for anorexia subtypes, and potential confounding factors not accounted for due to dataset limitations.