Harper JA, et al. – In the study presented here, clinical or cognitive measures either predictive of illness trajectory or altered with sustained weight recovery were identified in adult women with anorexia nervosa. The findings suggested that neuropsychological function when recently ill could be a prognostic factor. On the other hand, externalizing bias could provide a clinical target for recovery.

Methods

• For this examination, members were enrolled from earlier investigations of women with anorexia nervosa (AN-C) and in weight-recovery following anorexia nervosa (AN-WR).
• Members finished a neuropsychological battery at baseline and clinical assessments at both baseline and follow-up.
• Using one-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni-corrected post hoc comparisons, groups based on clinical outcome (continued eating disorder, AN-CC; newly in recovery, AN-CR; sustained weight-recovery, AN-WR) were compared.

Results

• The analysis in this study showed that women with continued eating disorder had poorer neuropsychological function and self-competence at baseline than AN-CR.
• AN-CR demonstrated changes in depression and externalizing bias, a measure of self-related attributions. AN-WR differed from both AN-CC and AN-CR at baseline in externalizing bias, however, only from AN-CC at result.