---
title: Do women with bulimia nervosa have higher testosterone levels than women without it?
description: Yes. Women with bulimia had significantly higher free testosterone (6.0 vs 3.9 pmol/l), suggesting androgens may play a role in poor impulse control. However,
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/high-levels-of-free-testosterone-in-women-with-bulimia-nervosa-1994/
---

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- Do women with bulimia nervosa have higher testosterone levels than women without it?

Case-control study, 1994

# Do women with bulimia nervosa have higher testosterone levels than women without it?

Yes. Women with bulimia had significantly higher free testosterone (6.0 vs 3.9 pmol/l), suggesting androgens may play a role in poor impulse control. However, the study was small.

 Early or limited evidence

11 women with normal-weight bulimia nervosa and age-matched controls

## What they did

Researchers compared hormone levels in 11 women with normal-weight bulimia nervosa to hormone levels in age-matched women without bulimia.

## What they found

Women with bulimia had significantly higher serum levels of free testosterone than control women (6.0 plus or minus 0.7 vs 3.9 plus or minus 0.8 pmol/l; p equals 0.03). The authors suggest androgens may be important in conditions involving poor impulse control.

## What it means for you

Women with bulimia have higher testosterone than women without it, which might help explain difficulties with impulse control. However, the study is small and doesn't prove testosterone causes bulimia, just that the two are associated. This doesn't relate directly to PMS or PMDD.

11

women with bulimia

6.0 pmol/l

testosterone in bulimia group

3.9 pmol/l

testosterone in control group

## About the study

Original title High levels of free testosterone in women with bulimia nervosa Authors Sundblad C, Bergman L, Eriksson E Journal Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica Year 1994 Study design Case-control study Participants 11 What was tested None; this was a comparison study Read the paper [doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1994.tb01613.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1994.tb01613.x)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Eating disorders](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-eating-disorders/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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