Department of Education, University of Genoa, C.so Andrea Podestà 2, 16128, Genoa, Italy.
Regional Centre for Eating Disorders and Adolescence, Centro Regionale per i disturbi del comportamento alimentare e dell'adolescenza, Cdaa Asl 2, Via XXV Aprile 128 - Ospedale S. Corona (Pad. Racamier), Pietra Ligure, Savona, Italy.
Eat Weight Disord. 2021 Feb;26(1):375-383. doi: 10.1007/s40519-020-00859-x. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
Eating disorders (EDs) are associated with a reduced ability to regulate emotion and impulses during the life span. Working memory and executive functions (EFs) are cognitive regulatory systems supported by networks involving the pre-frontal cortex. Studies in EDs found impaired functioning in these domains, showing an association between EDs and the reduced ability to control emotions and impulses.
To investigate EF in adolescents and young women with eating disorders (ED) using a quasi-experimental design, focusing on cognitive efficiency, emotional regulation (ER) and behavioural outcomes also taking into account pharmacological treatment and duration of illness.
A sample of 151 females belonging to two groups took part in this study. Twenty-six girls and young women (M 22;8 years) with ED and 125 typically developed girls and young women (M 17;4 years) completed a battery of cognitive tasks (Go-no-go, Stop-signal task, Symmetry span, Reading Span) and the Youth Self-Report and the Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale Performance. A series of ANOVA with the Brown-Forsythe test was used to compare the groups.
Participants with ED and controls did not show significant differences in EF tasks, whereas differences between younger and older participants with ED emerged. Moreover, ER difficulties seem to be associated with mainly internalizing problems in EDs. Further analysis on the full ED sample did not reveal any significant differences associated with the disorder persistence. Considering pharmacological treatment effects over cognitive, emotional and behavioural measures emerged.
The present study documented no specific differences in EF between control and participants with EDs, whereas important differences emerged in ER and behavioural outcomes perception in the clinical sample, together with a partial influence of pharmacological treatment.
No level of evidence.
进食障碍（EDs）与一生中调节情绪和冲动的能力降低有关。工作记忆和执行功能（EFs）是认知调节系统，由涉及前额叶皮层的网络支持。EDs 研究发现这些领域的功能受损，表明 EDs 与控制情绪和冲动的能力降低之间存在关联。
使用准实验设计研究青少年和年轻女性进食障碍（ED）中的 EF，重点关注认知效率、情绪调节（ER）和行为结果，同时考虑药物治疗和疾病持续时间。
本研究共有 151 名女性参与，分为两组。26 名患有 ED 的女孩和年轻女性（M 22；8 岁）和 125 名发育正常的女孩和年轻女性（M 17；4 岁）完成了一系列认知任务（Go-no-go、Stop-signal 任务、对称性跨度、阅读跨度）和青少年自我报告和情绪调节困难量表表现。使用方差分析和 Brown-Forsythe 检验比较两组。
ED 患者和对照组在 EF 任务中没有显著差异，而 ED 年轻和年长参与者之间存在差异。此外，ER 困难似乎与 ED 中的主要内化问题有关。对全 ED 样本的进一步分析未发现与疾病持续时间相关的任何显着差异。考虑到药物治疗对认知、情绪和行为测量的影响，出现了差异。
本研究记录了 ED 患者和对照组之间 EF 没有特定差异，而在临床样本中，ER 和行为结果感知出现了重要差异，药物治疗存在一定影响。
无证据等级。
