Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Nov;16(4):173-6.

A review of medication use for children and adolescents with eating disorders

Jennifer Couturier  1 , James Lock
Affiliations

A review of medication use for children and adolescents with eating disorders

Jennifer Couturier et al. J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2007 Nov.

Abstract
in English, French

Objective: This paper aims to review the research literature on the use of medication for eating disorders in children and adolescents.

Method: The literature was reviewed on the pharmacotherapy of anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). The PubMed database was searched for all articles on medication use in the child and adolescent population using the terms medication, antipsychotic, antidepressant, child, adolescent, eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Results: Very little literature exists on the use of medication for the treatment of eating disorders in children and adolescents. There is one retrospective study on the use of SSRIs and some case reports on atypical antipsychotics for children and adolescents with AN, and one small open trial on SSRIs for adolescent BN.

Conclusions: Evidence-based pharmacological treatment for children and adolescents with eating disorders is not yet possible due to the limited number of studies available. It appears that olanzapine and other atypical antipsychotics may prove to be promising for AN at low body weights. It remains uncertain whether SSRIs are helpful in preventing relapse in AN. For children and adolescents with BN, the first line pharmacological option is fluoxetine given the large evidence base of this drug with the adult population and a small open trial of adolescents with BN.

Objectif: L’objectif de cet article est de passer en revue la littérature sur la médication prescrite aux enfants et adolescents qui souffrent de troubles du comportement alimentaire.

Méthodologie: L’examen a porté sur la pharmacothérapie de l’anorexie, de la boulimie et d’autres troubles du comportement alimentaire non précisés.

Résultats: Très peu d’articles portent sur la médication utilisée pour traiter les troubles du comportement alimentaire chez les enfants et les adolescents. Il existe une étude rétrospective sur l’utilisation des ISRS, quelques études de cas sur les antipsychotiques atypiques pour les enfants et adolescents anoreiques, et une étude de petite envergure sur les ISRS prescrits aux adolescents boulimiques.

Conclusions: Le traitement pharmacologique factuel des enfants et adolescents souffrant de troubles du comportement alimentaire n’est pas encore possible en raison du nombre limité d’études sur ce sujet. L’olanzapine et les autres anti-psychotiques atypiques semblent avoir un avenir prometteur pour les patients dont le poids est très inférieur à la normale. On ne sait pas avec certitude si les ISRS aident à éviter les rechutes chez les anorexiques. La fluoxétine est la principale option pharmacologique pour les enfants et adolescents atteints de boulimie, comme l’attestent les résultats de nombreuses études auprès de la population adulte et l’essai mené auprès d’une population réduite d’adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents; anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; children; medication.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Attia E, Haiman C, Walsh BT, Flater SR. Does fluoxetine augment the inpatient treatment of anorexia nervosa? American Journal of Psychiatry. 1998;155(4):548–551. - PubMed
    1. Bacaltchuk J, Hay P. Antidepressants versus placebo for people with bulimia nervosa. Cochrane Database System Review. 2003;(4):CD003391. - PubMed
    1. Barbarich NC, McConaha CW, Gaskill J, La Via M, Frank GK, Achenbach S, et al. An open trial of olanzapine in anorexia nervosa. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2004;65(11):1480–1482. - PubMed
    1. Barbarich NC, McConaha CW, Halmi KA, Gendall K, Sunday SR, Gaskill J, et al. Use of nutritional supplements to increase the efficacy of fluoxetine in the treatment of anorexia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 2004;35(1):10–15. - PubMed
    1. Biederman J, Herzog DB, Rivinus TM, Harper GP, Ferber RA, Rosenbaum JF, et al. Amitriptyline in the treatment of anorexia nervosa: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 1985;5(1):10–16. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources