Results In the anxiety group the ghrelin levels were higher than the control group (p = 0.037) but there was no significant difference between the leptin levels (p = 0.430).
Long-term EE for twelve months reduced adiposity, improved glucose tolerance, decreased leptin levels, enhanced motor abilities, and inhibited anxiety.
Secondary targets include a) the examination of safety and tolerability (as mirrored by the number of adverse events), b) assessments of the impact upon eating disorder-specific psychopathology by means of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), c) the influence upon anxiety using the State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI), d) assessments of plasma cortisol levels during a dexamethasone-suppression test and appetite-regulating plasma peptides (ghrelin, leptin, insulin, glucose) during an oral glucose tolerance test and, e) a possible impact upon the prescription of antidepressants.
Our results, limited to PD female patients, suggest that lower leptin serum levels are significantly associated with greater severity of psychopathological manifestations, including number of panic attacks, symptoms of somatization, anxiety and phobic anxiety and overall clinical presentation.
Results from our human subjects indicated that anxiety and a subset of depressive symptoms were correlated with adiponectin levels (but not leptin levels).