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. 2022 Nov 25;14(23):5011.
doi: 10.3390/nu14235011.

Impact of Impulsivity and Therapy Response in Eating Disorders from a Neurophysiological, Personality and Cognitive Perspective

Giulia Testa  1   2 , Roser Granero  2   3 , Alejandra Misiolek  4 , Cristina Vintró-Alcaraz  2   4   5 , Núria Mallorqui-Bagué  2   6   7 , Maria Lozano-Madrid  4 , Misericordia Veciana De Las Heras  8 , Isabel Sánchez  2   4   5 , Susana Jiménez-Murcia  2   4   5   9 , Fernando Fernández-Aranda  2   4   5   9
Affiliations

Impact of Impulsivity and Therapy Response in Eating Disorders from a Neurophysiological, Personality and Cognitive Perspective

Giulia Testa et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Impulsivity, as a multidimensional construct, has been linked to eating disorders (EDs) and may negatively impact treatment response. The study aimed to identify the dimensions of impulsivity predicting poor remission of ED symptoms. A total of 37 ED patients underwent a baseline assessment of impulsive personality traits and inhibitory control, including the Stroop task and the emotional go/no-go task with event-related potentials (ERPs) analysis. The remission of EDs symptomatology was evaluated after 3 months of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and at a 2-year follow-up. Poor remission after CBT was predicted by poor inhibitory control, as measured by the Stroop task. At 2 years, the risk of poor remission was higher in patients with higher novelty seeking, lower inhibitory control in the Stroop and in ERPs indices (N2 amplitudes) during the emotional go/no-go task. The present results highlight inhibitory control negatively impacting both short- and long-term symptomatology remission in ED patients. On the other hand, high novelty seeking and ERPs indices of poor inhibition seem to be more specifically related to long-term remission. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the impulsivity dimension in patients with ED is recommended to tailor treatments and improve their efficacy.

Keywords: eating disorders; event-related potentials; impulsivity traits; inhibitory control; treatment outcome.

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Conflict of interest statement

F.F.-A. received consultancy honoraria from Novo Nordisk and editorial honoraria as EIC from Wiley. The rest of the authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Grand average ERPs waver for the no-go negative condition in the group of patients with good outcomes at follow-up (continuous line) and those showing bad outcomes at follow-up (dotted line). (B) Topographical maps (200–380 ms) for the no-go negative condition in patients with good outcomes at follow-up (left panel) and those with poor outcomes at follow-up (right panel).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Radar charts with the z-standardized mean scores obtained among the groups with good and poor treatment outcomes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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