• Massimo De Martinis, Maria Maddalena Sirufo, and Lia Ginaldi.
• a Department of Life, Health, & Environmental Sciences , University of L'Aquila , Italy.
• Curr Med Res Opin. 2018 Mar 1; 34 (3): 547-550.

BackgroundPeripheral vascular abnormalities caused by a dysregulation between peripheral vasoconstriction and vasodilatation, clinically appearing with Raynaud's phenomenon, have been described in anorexia nervosa but specific characteristics of microcirculation in anorexic patients have not yet been studied.MethodsWe performed nailfold videocapillaroscopy to assess microcirculatory alteration in anorexic patients and found three different patterns: normal, aspecific and early scleroderma pattern. We also evaluated several laboratory and clinical parameters to better assess our capillaroscopic findings.ResultsNone of the clinical parameters examined correlated with specific capillaroscopic findings. An increased risk of autoimmune diseases in eating disorder patients has been described. Our results evidenced an association between early scleroderma capillaroscopic pattern and Raynaud's phenomenon that occurs in anorexia nervosa patients, whereas no significant association was found between all three capillaroscopic patterns and the presence of autoantibodies, as well as ESR and CRP values.ConclusionsOur study reveals that patients with AN suffering from RP exhibit NVC findings typical of connective tissue diseases.

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