Clinical Trial: Personality Pathology and Cerebral Processing in Eating Disorders

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: Personality Pathology and Cerebral Processing in Eating Disorders

Brief Summary: The proposed study will investigate whether, on the basis of personality traits and personality disorders as well as specific cerebral activation patterns shows differences in adolescent female with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and a healthy control group.

Detailed Summary:

The increasing prevalence of eating disorders in adolescence and their frequent chronic course have led to the development of various programs for prevention, early detection and early intervention. Nevertheless, the causes of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) remain a topic of much discussion and research. Evidence points to a multifactorial disease pattern in which intrapsychic, psychosocial and biological factors interact and reinforce one another. Eating disorders have been increasingly associated with signs of emotional and psychological disturbance. In clinical populations, personality traits are observed as exacerbating factors that constitute important variables for differentiation. While investigations have shown high comorbidity of personality disorders and eating disorders in adulthood, comparable studies in adolescence have not yet been undertaken.

The proposed study will investigate whether, on the basis of personality traits and personality disorders as well as specific cerebral activation patterns, differentiations can be identified among adolescent female patients with AN (n = 50) and BN (n = 30) in comparison to a healthy control group (n = 30).

Of particular interest is the potential connection between specific personality traits and neural correlates in the two ED:

  1. Do specific personality traits and personality disorders correlate significantly with particular types of ED?
  2. Do AN and BN correlate significantly with particular cerebral activation patterns following visual presentation of food stimuli and gustatory stimuli? 3. Can connections be identified between specific personality profiles and cerebral activation patterns in AN and BN? 4. Will changes in cerebral activation p
    Sponsor: Medical University Innsbruck

    Current Primary Outcome: Neural correlates (fMRI): Differences on cerebral activation patterns in the AN and BN groups from those in the control group [ Time Frame: At the begin of therapy (T1, week 1) and at the end of therapy (T2) (approx. 2 months) ]

    Cerebral activation patterns ((activation of prefrontal, parahippocampal, cinculate, and insular cortex, posterior cingulate cortex ) in the AN and BN groups will differ from those in the control group


    Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

    Current Secondary Outcome:

    • Personality pathology: Identification of specific personality profiles (dimensional personality traits and personality disorders) using a structured clinical interview and questionnaire [ Time Frame: (T1) Week 1 ]
      Specific personality profiles (dimensional traits and personality disorders) can be identified in adolescent patients with AN and BN; evaluated from SCID-II interview (scores ranging from 108-324) and LoPF questionnaire (T-scores)
    • Relationship between personality pathology (using structured clinical interview and questionnaire) and neural correlates in ED (fMRI) [ Time Frame: At the begin of therapy (T1, week 1) and at the end of therapy (T2) (approx. 2 months) ]
      Personality pathology will correlate significantly with the cerebral activation patterns (fMRI brain activation, SCID-scores and T-scores)


    Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

    Information By: Medical University Innsbruck

    Dates:
    Date Received: November 9, 2016
    Date Started: January 2015
    Date Completion: November 2017
    Last Updated: November 29, 2016
    Last Verified: November 2016