A CONTROLLED TRIAL OF CISAPRIDE IN ANOREXIA-NERVOSA

To determine the efficacy of cisapride, 10 mg three times daily, in improving gastric emptying, reducing distress during meals, and facilitating weight gain in anorexia nervosa, we conducted an 8-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial on 29 inpatients. Measures included scintigraphic gastric emptying studies at 0, 2, 4, and 8 weeks; subjective distress during meals measured by visual analogue scales; self-rating of degree of global improvement in symptoms associated with eating at end of study; and weight measured weekly. Gastric emptying improved significantly but equally in both groups over the study period. Yet subjective measures were better in the cisapride group; they rated themselves as more hungry (p =.02) and more improved on the global measure of change in symptoms (p =.02). Even so, the cisapride group did not gain more weight. The correlation between gastric emptying and weight gain was modest (r =.30; p =.11), and between gastric emptying and the subjective measures, virtually absent. (C) 1995 by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.