Active clinical trials for "Feeding and Eating Disorders"

The goal of this observational study is to explore if different and specific profiles can be identified in adults with binge eating disorder (BED) depending on their additional eating pathology, emotion regulation and executive functions. The main questions it aims to answer are: Is there different and specific subgroups of patients with BED according to baseline profiles in emotion regulation, executive function and additional eating pathology (including restriction, chaotic eating, grazing and eating on external cues)? Are subgroups of individuals with BED (based on identified profiles) associated with outcome at end of treatment and follow-up? What is the trajectories in remission rates of specific symptom dimensions (eating disorder pathology, emotion regulation, executive function, and depressive symptoms) in individuals with BED and is there specific trajectory profiles in these dimensions? Is early changes in specific symptom dimensions (eating pathology, emotion regulation, executive function, or depression) associated with outcome of BED? Participants will be asked to fill in questionnaires before treatment as usual, 10 weeks into treatment, at end of treatment and at 6- and 12-month follow-up.

The Department of Health Promotion at Aalborg University Hospital gets patients referred from all the hospital's departments. The Department of Health Promotion offers lifestyle courses to aid preventing disease relapses and further comorbidities to patients referred to other ambulatory treatments at the hospital. For most patients this also includes weight loss, but the primary goal is lifestyle change regarding eating and exercise habits to improve overall health state. Since it is known that eating disorders commonly occurs in individuals seeking help for weight loss, and that the prevalence is larger than in the background population, we also suspect that eating disorders would commonly occur among patients referred to the Department of Health Promotion. Therefore, we aim to investigate the prevalence of eating disorders among patients referred to lifestyle courses at the Department of Health Promotion.

Currently, there is not a robust, testable neural model available that sufficiently explains the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN) a severe, often fatal, adolescent-onset eating disorder. Using state of the art neuroimaging and neuropsychological techniques, our objective is to identify neural mechanisms in the adolescent brain underlying AN. This is of high clinical relevance in as much as it will provide a robust platform for a diagnostic battery so that physicians can identify those who are prone to develop AN at a very early stage of life. The aim of this research plan is: 1) To develop knowledge of cognitive dysfunction in adolescents who have recently been diagnosed with AN, with a battery of cognitive tests during a series of clinical visits. 2) To provide a scientific basis for our knowledge about how the brain of an adolescent with an eating disorder differs from that of a healthy adolescent, by conducting functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging on adolescent females with AN.

Eating disorders (ED) are common among young. Anorexia (AN) and bulimia (BN) are the most prevalent ED. The American Psychiatric Association's guidelines state a 0.3% AN prevalence among young girls and a 0.1 to 4.2% BN prevalence. Men are not excluded: even if ED are more frequent in females (14-18 years), 1 man off to 10 can be diagnosed with ED. Unfortunately, the onset age is decreasing. In the last few years, always more preteens patients are diagnosed with ED: they generally refer a garbled self perception of body image. ED can have oral manifestations, such as: mucosal lesions, dental erosion, glandular hypertrophy, xerostomia and salivary disorders, dental caries These are the most common manifestations observed in patients with eating disorders, after a routine dental visit. There is not strong evidence that dental caries may be directly related to disordered eating habits; as a matter of fact results are controversial. Despite that, all the studies examined agree on the association between signs listed above and food disorders. Univocal percentages have not been reported in the scientific literature. For instance, a systematic review, dated 2016, showed that dental erosion is diagnosed in 45% of ED people, while other studies documented 70% patients affected by erosion. Another example reported is teeth hypersensitivity. According to some studies, 56% of ED patients reported such complaints, instead of other researches documenting 22% hypersensitivity impairment. As for dental caries, results are dissimilar. Authors showed 78% ED subjects diagnosed with dental caries. Other studies reported almost 50% patients with tooth decay, without statistically significant difference in the values between ED people and controls. All these differences are probably due to the different stages of eating disorders and diagnosis, and oral signs found. Different ages are also considered. The primary aim of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of oral cavity lesions among people affected by eating disorders.

The PROLED study is a prospective and longitudinal study of patients with Eating Disorders. Annual interviews and collection of biological samples are done, as well as during changes in disease course e.g. during hospitalization. Included are qualitative interviews, psychometric tests, questionnaires which are used to collect data on psychopathology. There is also collection of blood, urine and faeces.

The referral center for eating disorders provides for a systematic many years follow-up of patients under care with an annual assessment at the center. The investigators have recently shown the frequency of relapse in the first 7 years after diagnosis, but the literature remains poor on this epidemiology and on the risk factors for relapse. The investigators would therefore like to extend this follow-up for an additional 3 years after remission with an annual telephone nursing interview for all cured patients.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) patients tend to report low quality of life (Qol). However, research is limited. Most research on Qol in BED include generic measures, rather than disease specific. Obesity is prevalent in BED, but contradicting evidence exists on the influence of obesity in BED.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) has been fairly recently introduced into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 psychiatric classification and its severity criteria are still not well established. Moreover, it remains unclear whether BED is associated with greater metabolic severity or more somatic comorbidities, especially in obesity. Improved BED severity staging could lead to a better definition of management strategies and , therefore, facilitate screening and care. The investigators' hypothesis is that an improved assessment of the impulsivity-compulsivity spectrum, emotional regulation, attentional impairment and somatic or psychiatric comorbidities will result in a better distinction between the severe form of BED (e.g., highly impulsive and somatically complicated) from milder form (e.g., more compulsive and less somatically complicated).

This is an observational study where patients with eating disorders (ED) are compared with healthy controls without eating disorder (HC) regarding eating disorders features and autism spectrum features. Also patients will be reassessed after 5 years.

Occupational therapy is uniquely poised to help address chronic Eating Disorders (EDs) because of our holistic approach to client care. The complex and serious nature of EDs spans so many areas of life and wellbeing, it requires an intervention strategy that addresses the whole person across mental, physical, social, and spiritual realms. Unfortunately, specialized care for EDs can be difficult to find - especially for those not sick enough to be admitted to an inpatient facility but who are still struggling to thrive in daily life. For example, in New Mexico there is only one inpatient treatment center for EDs and no specialized outpatient services. This leaves many people suffering from EDs without options for care because they are not yet sick enough. There is a need for novel interventions in this setting that go beyond the traditional weight and food-focused medical interventions and seek to help empower individuals, work around challenges, and live their lives to the fullest. To meet this need in our community, the study team is developing a preliminary outpatient treatment program. The ROADE (Restorative Occupational Approaches for Disordered Eating) Program is an 8-week, structured, multimodal intervention seeking to reduce psychosocial symptoms and improve self-management skills for disordered eating. The intervention strategies range from: (1) wellness activities like mindfulness meditation to improve interoception, self-acceptance, and as a self-guided coping tool (2) adaptation of health management and self-care occupations to improve daily functioning while navigating ongoing disordered eating symptoms and (3) light exercise like Yoga and lymphatic drainage exercises to reconnect in a positive way with the body, improve digestion, promote relaxation, and reduce muscle tension. The current research investigates the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention while testing preliminary effects on eating disorder symptoms.