Effects of teriparatide on hip structure and bone microarchitecture in women with anorexia nervosa: a placebo-controlled randomized trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Teriparatide.

Currently, there are no approved therapies for bone loss in anorexia nervosa.

This study investigated the effects of teriparatide (TPT) on bone microarchitecture and structure in anorexia nervosa.

Why It Was Studied

The researchers conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of 6 months of teriparatide in anorexia nervosa.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as adults and middle-aged adults, women only.

The researchers conducted a randomized placebo-controlled study including women with anorexia nervosa and a T-score: ≤ - 2.5.

Twenty-one women were randomized to (1) TPT (N = 10; 47.7 ± 8.6yrs) or (2) placebo (N = 11; 47.7 ± 7.7yrs) for 6 months.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Teriparatide and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Teriparatide study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Teriparatide group a baseline to be compared against.

The timeline in the abstract includes 6 months.

Primary outcomes included changes in trabecular and cortical bone microarchitecture (HR-pQCT) and hip structural analysis parameters (HSA program).

Secondary outcomes included bone turnover markers (ELISA).

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Anorexia Nervosa, Teriparatide, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Bone Density, Hip Joint, Cancellous Bone and Osteoporosis.

Author keywords: Bone microarchitecture, HR-pQCT and Hip structure analysis.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Teriparatide over 6 months.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2026 (Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA), a journal based in England.

More context: the Teriparatide compound page, all human trials.