Table 2.

Meta-analysis results of females with eating disorders (EDs) versus healthy control (HC) groups

Anatomical site	Groups in studies (N)	ED (N)	HC (N)	SMD	L 95% CI	U 95% CI	Z	p	I2 (%)	Egger	p
All studies
Total body BMD	32	996	963	− 2.62	− 3.39	− 1.84	6.59	< 0.001	99.2	− 5.76	< 0.001
Spine BMD	49	1941	2299	− 3.31	− 3.98	− 2.63	9.61	< 0.001	99.4	− 6.87	< 0.001
Femur BMD	24	894	1051	− 3.08	− 4.33	− 1.83	4.82	< 0.001	98.7	− 5.03	< 0.001
AN
Total body BMD	24	683	676	− 3.45	− 4.57	− 2.33	6.04	< 0.001	99.1
Spine BMD	36	1553	1743	− 4.34	− 5.27	− 3.40	9.11	< 0.001	99.4
Femur BMD	20	788	954	− 3.38	− 5.30	− 2.22	4.78	< 0.001	98.8
Hip BMD	19	1078	688	− 4.95	− 6.78	− 3.12	5.30	< 0.001	98.9	− 2.52	0.012
BN
Total body BMD	7	291	253	− 0.29	− 0.46	− 0.12	3.27	0.001	4.8
Spine BMD	12	366	522	− 0.49	− 0.77	− 0.21	3.45	0.001	63.7
Femur BMD	3	84	63	− 0.19	− 0.80	− 0.43	0.60	0.552	66.6
BN with history of AN
Spine BMD	4	67	21	− 0.74	− 1.06	− 0.43	4.58	< 0.001	0
BN without history of AN
Spine BMD	2	85	96	− 0.07	− 1.05	− 0.90	0.14	0.885	89.7
OSFED/EDNOS only
Total body BMD	1	22	34	− 0.04	− 0.99	0.10	1.60	0.109
Spine BMD	1	22	34	− 2.44	− 3.15	− 1.73	6.77	< 0.001
Femur BMD	1	22	34	− 0.24	− 0.76	0.31	0.82	0.415

P-value in bold indicates statistical significance (p < 0.05)

N sample number, ED eating disorder, HC healthy control, SMD standardised mean difference, L lower, U upper, CI confidence interval, Z z-scores, p p value, BMD bone mineral density, AN anorexia nervosa, BN bulimia nervosa, OSFED other specified feeding or eating disorder, EDNOS Eating disorder not otherwise specified, I² Higgins I² test