Anorexia nervosa in a woman with estrogen‐treated gonadal dysgenesis

This report describes a patient with known gonadal dysgenesis (Turner syndrome) who developed anorexia nervosa (AN). The case is of interest not only because it is the 13th documented coincidence of these two relatively uncommon conditions but because the patient had been treated continuously with sex hormone replacemnt from the age of 12 through the period of her hospitalization from the AN. Despite the presence of the gonadal dysgenesis and the ongoing steroid therapy, the patient's clinical and other endocrine findings were fully characterisitc of typical AN. She also demonstrated significant lateralized neuropsychological disturbances; these were clearly secondary to the Turner syndrome but might have been attributed erroneously to the AN if the former condition had not be diagnosed previously.