Locked down with my eating disorder: a retrospective study on the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on adolescents with eating disorders

BACKGROUND: Negative effects of COVID-19 lockdowns have been reported in adult patients with feeding and eating disorders (FED) whereas evidence of its impact on young clinical populations is still limited and somewhat inconsistent. The present study aims to investigate the effect of the first COVID-19 lockdown on a range of FED symptoms in children and adolescents: (a) already receiving treatment in our specialist service for FED when the pandemic hit, and (b) prospectively evaluated in our service from October 2020 to July 2021. METHODS: Out of sixty-one eligible patients with a broad spectrum of FED invited, forty-five young patients (aged 11–18) consented to participate and were included. An ad-hoc survey, consisting of open questions, multiple choice questions, yes/no questions, and a symptoms checklist, was administered online. RESULTS: About half of the participants (46.7%) reported a positive effect of lockdown on FED symptomatology. Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) reported the highest rate of symptomatology worsening (58.6%). Younger patients (11–13 years) showed a greater improvement of symptoms compared to older ones (14–18 years of age). COVID-19 lockdown was identified as the precipitating factor for FED onset in 60.7% of newly evaluated patients. CONCLUSION: Evidence from our investigation points out that although the COVID-19 pandemic was a precipitating factor for a FED for many active and newly referred patients, it had a positive impact on youth who were already in treatment and younger participants

WHITE MATTERS: A multimodal MRI-based investigation of white matter integrity, structural connectivity and cognition in Anorexia Nervosa

Le présent doctorat est un projet de neuroimagerie multimodale concernant la morphologie et la volumétrie de la matière blanche cérébrale et le fonctionnement neuropsychologique dans le domaine psychiatrique de l'Anorexie mentale (AN), en utilisant un modèle d'étude « à haut risque génétique » basé sur la famille. L'objectif principal était d'effectuer une évaluation basée sur l’IRM par tenseur de diffusion (DTI) de la matière blanche cérébrale (volume, intégrité et connectivité structurelle) sur des filles saines à risque familial élevé d’AN et sur un groupe comparatif de contrôle. Ensuite, le projet visait à évaluer le fonctionnement neurocognitif (en particulier la mémoire spatiale de travail, la réallocation attentive et le contrôle inhibiteur) et l'insatisfaction corporelle des filles à risque d'anorexie par rapport à des filles saines de contrôle. Enfin, des corrélations entre les résultats structurels de la matière blanche, les résultats neurocognitifs et psychologiques ont été évalués dans l'ensemble de l'échantillon.</p

Locked down with my eating disorder: a retrospective study on the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on adolescents with eating disorders

Abstract Background Negative effects of COVID-19 lockdowns have been reported in adult patients with feeding and eating disorders (FED) whereas evidence of its impact on young clinical populations is still limited and somewhat inconsistent. The present study aims to investigate the effect of the first COVID-19 lockdown on a range of FED symptoms in children and adolescents: (a) already receiving treatment in our specialist service for FED when the pandemic hit, and (b) prospectively evaluated in our service from October 2020 to July 2021. Methods Out of sixty-one eligible patients with a broad spectrum of FED invited, forty-five young patients (aged 11–18) consented to participate and were included. An ad-hoc survey, consisting of open questions, multiple choice questions, yes/no questions, and a symptoms checklist, was administered online. Results About half of the participants (46.7%) reported a positive effect of lockdown on FED symptomatology. Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) reported the highest rate of symptomatology worsening (58.6%). Younger patients (11–13 years) showed a greater improvement of symptoms compared to older ones (14–18 years of age). COVID-19 lockdown was identified as the precipitating factor for FED onset in 60.7% of newly evaluated patients. Conclusions Evidence from our investigation points out that although the COVID-19 pandemic was a precipitating factor for a FED for many active and newly referred patients, it had a positive impact on youth who were already in treatment and younger participants

Initial evidence of abnormal brain plasticity in anorexia nervosa: an ultra-high field study

Anorexia Nervosa has been associated with white matter abnormalities implicating subcortical abnormal myelination. Extending these findings to intracortical myelin has been challenging but ultra-high field neuroimaging offers new methodological opportunities. To test the integrity of intracortical myelin in AN we used 7 T neuroimaging to acquire T1-weighted images optimized for intracortical myelin from seven females with AN (age range: 18–33) and 11 healthy females (age range: 23–32). Intracortical T 1 values (inverse index of myelin concentration) were extracted from 148 cortical regions at ten depth-levels across the cortical ribbon. Across all cortical regions, these levels were averaged to generate estimates of total intracortical myelin concentration and were clustered using principal component analyses into two clusters; the outer cluster comprised T 1 values across depth-levels ranging from the CSF boundary to the middle of the cortical regions and the inner cluster comprised T 1 values across depth-levels ranging from the middle of the cortical regions to the gray/white matter boundary. Individuals with AN exhibited higher T 1 values (i.e., decreased intracortical myelin concentration) in all three metrics. It remains to be established if these abnormalities result from undernutrition or specific lipid nutritional imbalances, or are trait markers; and whether they may contribute to neurobiological deficits seen in AN

The Impact of the First and Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Eating Symptoms and Dysfunctional Eating Behaviours in the General Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the prevalence of feeding and eating disorder (FED) symptoms or dysfunctional eating behaviours (DEB) in the general population during the COVID-19 outbreak. Method: We searched eligible articles in biomedical databases from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2022. Prevalence rates of FED or DEB changes between pre-pandemic and pandemic time and correlation with psychological distress were pooled with a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was tested using I-squared (I2) statistics. A total of 186 studies with 406,076 participants met the inclusion criteria. Results: The more prevalent FED or DEB during the COVID-19 outbreak were: body image concerns (52%, 95% CI 0.38, 0.66), binge eating (40%, 95% CI 0.25, 0.55), and overeating (40%, 95% CI = 0.32-0.48). Pooled data of longitudinal studies (k = 8) only showed a significant difference in the prevalence of weight gain from pre-pandemic to the pandemic time. Finally, increased levels of psychological distress (k = 35) positively correlated with some ED symptoms. Conclusion: This meta-analysis evidenced a negative impact of the pandemic on eating symptoms and DEB in the general population