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Growing interest exists in the association of the immune system and its role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders (ED). Current evidence suggests that serum cytokine levels seem to be elevated in females with anorexia nervosa (AN). However, less is known in bulimia nervosa (BN) and other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED), specially in males. We aimed to perform a case-control study in a sample of forty eight young patients (38 females and 10 males) with early diagnosis of AN, BN or OSFED and without any previous treatment, compared with twenty nine healthy controls (19 females and 10 males) matched by age, sex and socioeconomic status. We evaluated eating-related psychopathology and depressive symptoms and measured serum concentration of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Contrary to expectations, levels of IL-1β and IL-6 were significantly lower in ED patients, compared with healthy controls. Comparing the different groups of females, we found elevated levels of IL-10 among ED patients therefore supporting the idea of an immunosuppressive status in the early stages. This could indicate that early onset patients without any previous treatment could remain in a reward-dependent state with a lower immune response., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: Altered cognitive functioning could have an important role in the development and maintenance of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). The majority of previous research has focused on flexibility and global-detail processing. The aim of this study was to explore planning abilities in women with AN., Method: Women with AN (n = 32) were compared to healthy controls (n = 42) using two different types of neuropsychological tasks for the assessment of planning abilities: Tower of London (ToL), a classic measure of planning abilities, and Zoo Map test, a more ecologically valid planning measure. Measures of AN psychopathology, anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsivity were also collected., Results: The AN group did not differ from controls in the ToL (all p-values p > .05), although they performed significantly worse than controls in the main score of the Zoo Map (p = .02). A worse performance in the Zoo Map test More was associated with more eating disorders (rho = -.44, p = .018) and depressive (rho = -.42, p = .026) symptoms in the AN group., Conclusions: Our study suggests the presence of subtle planning difficulties in women with AN which might be better detected using tasks with increased ecological validity.

Objective This study examined the longitudinal reciprocal associations between resilience factors, quality of life (QoL) domains, and symptoms of eating disorders (EDs). Hypotheses included predictive paths from resilience factors of “acceptance of self and life” and “personal competence” to increased QoL and predictive paths from previous levels of QoL to resilience. Method A total of 184 patients with EDs (mean age = 29.55, SD = 9.17, 94.8% women) completed measures of resilience, QoL, and EDs symptoms over three waves spaced six month apart. Hypotheses were tested by path analysis. Results Resilience factors predicted improvements in psychological health and social relationship domains of QoL and a reduction of ED symptoms over time. In addition, psychological health increased acceptance of self and life consistently over time, whereas physical health increased the competence component of resilience. Discussion The relationships between resilience factors and QoL are reciprocal, with several mediational paths. A spiral of recursive influences between resilience factors and QoL can take place in people with EDs. This possibility offers new perspectives to understanding the process of recovery in patients with ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]