Neuropsychological functioning in children and adolescents with restrictive-type anorexia nervosa: An in-depth investigation with NEPSY–II

Abstract

Several studies have investigated the neuropsychological functioning of patients with anorexia nervosa restrictive type (AN-r), but results are conflicting. Here we compared the neuropsychological profile of 23 female children and adolescents with AN-r and of 46 typical controls (aged 9–16 years) using the second edition of the NEPSY (a Developmental Neuropsychology Assessment) neuropsychological battery. AN-r patients presented subtle cognitive flexibility impairments in audiomotor responses (p = .033). Conversely, superior performance in verbal fluency (p = .024) and memory (p = .034) was observed only in AN-r patients with an associated unipolar mood disorder. This profile of marginally impaired and enhanced performance was independent from illness duration and starvation degree, suggesting that it may preexist and represent a vulnerability factor for the disease onset.

Keywords:

• Anorexia nervosa
• Eating disorders
• Adolescents
• Executive functions
• Verbal fluency

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (C.U., Grant GR-2008-1137139), by IRCCS E. Medea (C.U., Ricerca Corrente 2011, Italian Ministry of Health), and by IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation (F.M., Ricerca Corrente 2011, Italian Ministry of Health). The authors declare that the funding institutions did not influence the study and that no conflict of interest exists.