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Porto, Portugal | September 20-22, 2012
31
T21
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS PROFILE IN EXTREME EATING/
WEIGHT CONDITIONS: FROM ANOREXIA NERVOSA TO
OBESITY.
Ana Beatriz Fagundo
1
, Rafael de la Torre
2,3
, Susana
Jiménez-Murcia
1,2,4
, Zaida Agüera
2
, Roser Granero
2,5
, Salomé
Tárrega
2,5
, Cristina Botella
2,6
, Jose Manuel Fernández-Real
2,7
,
Laura Forcano
2
, Gema Frühbeck
2,8
, Francisco J Tinahones
2,9
,
Felipe F Casanueva
2,10
, Fernando Fernández-Aranda
1,2,4
1
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDI-
BELL, Barcelona, Spain,
2
CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y
Nutrición (CIBERObn), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Barcelona,
Spain,
3
Human Pharmacology and Clinical Neuroscienc-
es Research Group, Neuroscience Research Program,
IMIM-Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Parc de Salut Mar,
Barcelona, Spain,
4
Department of Clinical Sciences, School of
Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain,
5
Labo-
ratori d’Estadística Aplicada, Departament de Psicobiologia i
Metodologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona,
Spain,
6
Department of Basic Psychology, Clinic and Psychobi-
ology of the University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain,
7
Service of
Diabetes, Endocrinology and Nutrition, Institut d’Investigació
Biomèdica de Girona (IdlBGi) Hospital Dr Josep Trueta, Gi-
rona, Spain,
8
Department of Endocrinology, University of Na-
varra, Pamplona, Spain,
9
Service of Diabetes, Endocrinology
and Nutrition, Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de Victoria,
Málaga, Spain,
10
Endocrine Division, Complejo Hospitalario U.
de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela University, Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
Introduction:
Extreme weight conditions (EWC) groups
along a
continuum
may share some biological risk factors
and intermediate neurocognitive phenotypes. A core cogni-
tive trait in EWC appears to be executive dysfunction, with a
focus on decision making, response inhibition and cognitive
flexibility. Differences between individuals in these areas are
likely to contribute to the differences in vulnerability to EWC.
The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there is
a common pattern of executive dysfunction (decision mak-
ing, cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility) in EWC while
comparing anorexia nervosa patients (AN), obese subjects
(OB) and healthy eating/weight controls (HC).
Methods:
Thirty five AN patients, 52 OB subjects and 137 HC were
compared using using a neuropsychological battery includ-
ing the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST); Stroop Color
and Word Test (SCWT); and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). All
participants were female, aged between 18 and 60 years and
spoke Spanish as their first language.
Results:
There was a
significant difference on IGT score (F (1.79); p<. 001), with AN
and OB groups showing the poorest performance compared
with HC. On the WCST, AN and OB made significantly more
errors than controls (F (25.73); p<. 001), and had significantly
fewer correct responses (F (2.71); p <. 001). Post hoc analy-
sis revealed that the two clinical groups were not significantly
different from each other. Finally, OB showed a significant
reduced performance in inhibition response measured with
the Stroop test (F(5.11); p<. 001) compared with both AN and
HC.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that EWC subjects
(namely AN and OB) have similar dysfunctional executive pro-
file that may play a role in the development and maintenance
of such disorders.
T22
PSYCHOLOGICAL RISK FACTORS FOR THE ONSET OF
EATING DISORDER SYMPTOMATOLOGY: A LONGITUDI-
NAL STUDY
Daniel B. Fassnacht
1
, Markus Moessner
2
, Paulo P.P. Macha-
do
3
1
James Cook University Singapore, Singapore, Singapore,
2
University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany,
3
Uni-
versity of Minho, Braga, Portugal
Introduction Eating disorder (ED) symptoms display com-
mon and serious health problems among college students.
Understanding the occurrence and course of symptoms is a
crucial endeavor. However, the courses of these symptoms
in at-risk populations are largely unknown. The present work
has two objectives: the identification of psychological risk
factors, and the exploration of the temporal courses of these
factors prior to the onset of ED symptoms. Methods In the
present longitudinal study, risk factors and ED symptoms were
assessed monthly in a student population at two universities.
To identify risk factors survival analyses were conducted. To
describe trajectories of these risk factors prior to the onset
of ED symptoms hierarchical linear modeling was applied.
Results Out of 151 included participants, 22 (14.6%) met the
criteria for partial ED. While risk factors concerning eating
related behaviors (restraint, controlled and emotional eating)
showed substantial elevation only shortly before the onset of
the symptoms, other factors concerning underlying constructs
such as self-esteem, emotional dysregulation and shape
concern were already elevated four months prior to the onset
of the symptoms. Conclusion The temporal course of ED risk
factors (shape concern, body dissatisfaction, self-esteem)
prior to the onset of partial ED symptoms, their importance for
the risk factor concept, and their potential for early detection
of at-risk individuals will be discussed.
T23
NEURAL CORRELATES OF RESPONSE INHIBITION
IMPAIRMENT IN ANOREXIA NERVOSA: THE ROLE OF
5-HTTLPR POLYMORPHISM
Angela Favaro
1
, Francesca Titton
1
, Elena Tenconi
1
, Daniela
Degortes
1
, Renzo Manara
2
, Paolo Santonastaso
1
1
University of Padova, Padova, Italy,
2
Padua University Hospi-
tal, Padova, Italy
Although eating disordered patients have problems in behav-
ioral control, few studies to date explored response inhibition
(RI) abilities in eating disorders. The aim of our study was to
investigate RI abilities in eating disordered women (n=100)
and in healthy controls (n=60) using the Stop Signal para-
digm. All subjects were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR poly-
morphism of the serotonin transporter gene. In a subgroup
of AN patients and healthy controls (n=63), we analysed the
resting-state functional connectivity of brain areas involved
in RI, such as the presupplementary motor area and right
inferior frontal gyrus. AN patients (and to a lesser degree BN
patients) showed an impairment of RI (that is, longer reaction
times, p<0.009) that did not correlate with onset age, duration
of illness and BMI. Positive and negative functional connectiv-
ity of the right inferior frontal gyrus is significantly increased in
patients with AN in comparison to healthy women. In both AN
and healthy women, 5-HTTLPR polymorphism significantly in-
fluences the functional connectivity of the right inferior frontal
gyrus and modifies the direction of the correlation between RI
performance and functional connectivity. This study provides
evidence that the neural mechanisms implicated in RI are in-
fluenced by 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in both AN and healthy
women. However, different mechanisms are implicated to
inhibit behavior in the two groups as reflected by correlation
of reaction times with functional connectivity. In particular,
healthy carriers of the short 5-HTTLPR variant show signifi-
cantly lower abilities to deactivate introspective networks
(default-mode networks) that interfere with attentional net-
works leading to longer reaction times, whereas AN carriers of
the same variant are less able to inhibit their behavior when
interhemispheric positive functional connectivity is impaired.
AN patients display impaired RI abilities that are linked to a
5-HTTLPR-mediated disruption of functional connectivity of
the right inferior frontal gyrus.
T24
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE EATING PA-
THOLOGY SYMPTOMS INVENTORY (EPSI)
Kelsie T. Forbush
1
, Jennifer E. Wildes
2
, Lauren O. Pollack
3
,
Ashley Bright
2
, David Watson
4
1
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA,
2
Western Psy-
chiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA, USA,
3
University
of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA,
4
University of
Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA
Introduction:
Many of the current measures of eating disor-
der (ED) symptoms are narrow in scope (e.g., assess only
one aspect of disordered eating, such as binge eating) and
POSTER SESSION 1 ABSTRACTS