Background: Previous studies found that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) perform worse on executive functioning (EF) compared to healthy controls (HC’s). EF plays an important role in the...Show moreBackground: Previous studies found that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) perform worse on executive functioning (EF) compared to healthy controls (HC’s). EF plays an important role in the regulation of behaviour in daily life. EF impairment can therefore lead to problems with functioning in daily life. Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference between AN patients and HC’s in EF. In addition, it was investigated whether there is a correlation between EF, eating habits and BMI-SDS. The final aim of this study was to investigate whether EF improves in patients with AN after a one-year follow-up. In each case, the total EF scores and the scores on the 12 subscales of EF were examined. Methods: The study population consisted of 126 girls aged 12-22 years (M= 18.42; SD=2.35), 57 girls belonged to the AN group and 69 to the HC group (M age AN=17.98; M age HC= 18.84). The participants completed the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) and the Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated for the baseline measurements and for the follow-up one year later. Several independentsamples t-tests, linear regression analyses and a linear mixed model analysis were performed as analyses for the results. Results: No differences were found between the AN group and the HC’s with regard to total score of EF, but the AN group did show significantly lower flexibility (p< .001), emotion regulation (p< .001) and taking initiative (p= .001) compared to the HC. However, the AN group did report significantly more orderliness and neatness (p< .001) than the HC. BMISDS and eating habits were not associated with the total score of EF, even after adjusting for the confounders depression and age of onset. The subscales taking initiative (p= .029, inhibition (p= .006) and working memory (p= .010) turned out to be negatively associated with BMI-SDS and eating habits. Finally, there appeared to be no significant change in the total score of EF between the baseline measurement and the follow-up after one year for patients with AN. No significant change was found for the subscales either. Conclusion: AN patients showed impairment on certain subscales of EF, but the overall EF score was not different from the HC’s. The impairment found in subscales of EF did not change from baseline measurement after one year of follow-up. However, the participants in this study were all diagnosed with AN less than a year ago. Further research with a longer follow-up time is needed to find out whether this conclusion is the same for patients with chronic AN or patients who have recovered.Show less
The etiology of anorexia nervosa (AN) remains difficult to understand, and even harder to predict. Identifying possible risk factors is therefore crucial. Recent literature has suggested that...Show moreThe etiology of anorexia nervosa (AN) remains difficult to understand, and even harder to predict. Identifying possible risk factors is therefore crucial. Recent literature has suggested that impaired set-shifting (SS) in the anorexic population might play a role as an endophenotype, meaning it might make individuals more susceptible to developing this disorder. It has been established that SS abilities are impaired in adults with AN, but it is unclear whether this is also the case for younger age groups. In this study we aimed to get a better understanding of the possible SS impairment in adolescents with AN. We examined differences in SS abilities between female adolescents with AN and HC (N=72; AN=45, HC=27), between the ages of 12-21 years old (M=15.83, SD=2.08) using a MANOVA, and looked at the influence of food-related stimuli, activity-related stimuli, and neutral stimuli on SS abilities within both groups through ANCOVAs. We examined whether poor SS abilities are associated with low BMI, poor body image, and restrictive eating behaviors using multiple regression analyses, with age, AN subtype and intelligence level as covariates. We found no significant difference in SS abilities between the participants with AN and healthy controls (p=.20). Participants with AN performed significantly worse on the SS task with activity-related stimuli as compared to the food-related (p=.015) and neutral stimuli (p<.001). HC participants did not show a difference in performance between the three SS tasks (p=.17). We did not find a significant association between SS abilities and low BMI (p=.78), poor body image (p=.233) and restrictive behaviors (p=.197). Based on our findings, poor SS abilities do not seem to be associated with adolescent AN, but more research should be done into this topic to strengthen these results. Future research must additionally focus on finding alternative measures that can be understood as risk factors, and actively seek out new approaches that can be used in the prevention of this disorder.Show less
