Osteopenia in Women with Anorexia Nervosa

To the Editor: Rigotti and colleagues (Dec. 20 issue)¹ have demonstrated serious osteopenia in patients with restrictive anorexia nervosa, which they attribute to hypoestrogenism. The concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D in their patients were normal, and they therefore dismissed a possible role for hypovitaminosis D in the pathogenesis of osteopenia in this condition. We have examined the possibility that a deficiency of vitamin D may have some bearing on the development of osteopenia in patients with anorexia nervosa in the United Kingdom, where exposure to sunshine may be limited, especially in patients with anorexia nervosa. In.