Leora Pinhas

The effects of the ideal of female beauty on mood and body satisfaction

OBJECTIVE The present study examined changes in womens mood states resulting from their viewing pictures in fashion magazines of models who represent a thin ideal. METHOD Female university students completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the Body Parts Satisfaction Scale (BPSS), and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). They were then exposed to 20 slides; the experimental group (N = 51) viewed images of female fashion models and a control group (N = 67) viewed slides containing no human figures. All subjects then completed the POMS and the BPSS again. RESULTS Women were more depressed (R2 = 0.745, p < .05) and more angry (R2 = 0.73, p < .01) following exposure to slides of female fashion models. DISCUSSION Viewing images of female fashion models had an immediate negative effect on womens mood. This study, therefore, supports the hypothesis that media images do play a role in disordered eating.

Classification of Eating Disturbance in Children and Adolescents: Proposed Changes for the DSM-V

Childhood and adolescence are critical periods of neural development and physical growth. The malnutrition and related medical complications resulting from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and eating disorder not otherwise specified may have more severe and potentially more protracted consequences during youth than during other age periods. The consensus opinion of an international workgroup of experts on the diagnosis and treatment of child and adolescent eating disorders is that (a) lower and more developmentally sensitive thresholds of symptom severity (e.g. lower frequency of purging behaviours, significant deviations from growth curves as indicators of clinical severity) be used as diagnostic boundaries for children and adolescents, (b) behavioural indicators of psychological features of eating disorders be considered even in the absence of direct self-report of such symptoms and (c) multiple informants (e.g. parents) be used to ascertain symptom profiles. Collectively, these recommendations will permit earlier identification and intervention to prevent the exacerbation of eating disorder symptoms.

Incidence and Age-Specific Presentation of Restrictive Eating Disorders in Children: A Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program Study

OBJECTIVES To document and describe the incidence and age-specific presentation of early-onset restrictive eating disorders in children across Canada. DESIGN Surveillance study. Cases were ascertained through the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program by surveying approximately 2453 Canadian pediatricians (a 95% participation rate) monthly during a 2-year period. SETTING Canadian pediatric practices. PARTICIPANTS Pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES A description of clinical presentations and characteristics of eating disorders in this population and the incidence of restrictive eating disorders in children. RESULTS The incidence of early-onset restrictive eating disorders in children aged 5 to 12 years seen by pediatricians was 2.6 cases per 100 000 person-years. The ratio of girls to boys was 6:1, and 47.1% of girls and 54.5% of boys showed signs of growth delay. Forty-six percent of children were below the 10th percentile for body mass index, 34.2% were initially seen with unstable vital signs, and 47.2% required hospital admission. Only 62.1% of children met criteria for anorexia nervosa. Although children with anorexia nervosa were more likely to be medically compromised, some children who did not meet criteria for anorexia nervosa were equally medically unstable. CONCLUSIONS Young children are seen with clinically significant restrictive eating disorders, with the incidence exceeding that of type 2 diabetes mellitus. These eating disturbances can result in serious medical consequences, ranging from growth delay to unstable vital signs, which can occur in the absence of weight loss or other restrictive eating disorder symptoms.

Attentional biases to body shape images in adolescents with anorexia nervosa: An exploratory eye-tracking study

Body image distortion (BID) plays an important role in the etiology and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN). Previous studies of BID in AN showed small biases in visual scanning behavior (VSB) towards images of body shapes. The aim of this study is to investigate biases in VSB when body shape images compete with images with a different theme (social interactions) for subjects׳ attention. When images of thin body shapes (TBS) were presented alongside images of social interactions, AN patients (n=13) spent significantly more time looking at TBSs rather than at social interactions, but controls (n=20) did not. When images of fat body shapes (FBS) were presented alongside images of social interactions, AN patients spent significantly more time looking at FBSs rather than at social interactions, but controls did not. When images of TBSs, FBSs and social interactions were presented alongside each other, AN patients demonstrated a hierarchy in their attention allocation, choosing to spend the most viewing time on TBS images, followed by FBS images and then images with social interactions. Under the three experimental conditions, AN patients demonstrated large biases in their visual scanning behavior (VSB). Biases in VSB may provide physiologically objective measures that characterize patients with AN.

Disordered eating in Jewish adolescent girls.

Objectives: To examine the presence and nature of disordered eating attitudes and behaviours among Jewish Canadian adolescents, as compared with non-Jewish Canadian adolescents in an urban community. A secondary goal was to examine whether rates of eating-disordered behaviour differed among the adolescents based on the degree of Jewish religious observance. Method: High school students (n = 868) from the Toronto area completed a demographic and religious practice questionnaire together with the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), a self-report test that discriminated adolescents with syndromal eating disorders from normal adolescents. Results: Jewish females aged 13 to 20 years, but not males, reported significantly more disordered eating behaviours and attitudes, compared with their non-Jewish female counterparts. Twenty-five percent of Jewish females, as compared with 18% of non-Jewish females, scored above the clinical cut-off for the EAT. No differences in vulnerability to disordered eating were found within the group of Jewish females or males related to their degree of religious observance. Conclusions: Adolescent Jewish females, but not males, appear to be at greater risk for abnormal attitudes and behaviours related to eating, compared with their non-Jewish female peers. While the reasons for this finding are unclear, this study is a step toward improving understanding of the relations between sex, culture, religion, and the development of eating disorders. Culturally sensitive and sex-specific prevention strategies and treatment interventions are indicated.

Trading Health for a Healthy Weight: The Uncharted Side of Healthy Weights Initiatives

Healthy eating and weight initiatives have been incorporated into many schools to combat the growing obesity problem. There is little research, however, on the effectiveness of these programs or any inadvertent harmful effects on childrens mental health. Our aims were to report on how school-based healthy weights initiatives can trigger the adoption of unhealthy behaviours for some children. This is a case series of four children seen at specialized eating disorder clinics. Each child attributed eating pattern changes to information garnered from school-based healthy eating curricula. Unanticipated consequences of these initiatives are described and alternative approaches are discussed.

Delirium and refeeding syndrome in anorexia nervosa

OBJECTIVE To review the literature on delirium and refeeding syndrome in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and present case examples in an attempt to identify common clinical features and response to therapy. METHOD A comprehensive literature review was completed. In addition to the cases identified in the literature, we present two additional cases of our own. RESULTS We identified a total of 10 cases (all female; mean age 19 years old, range 12-29 years); 2/3 of the cases had similar clinical features predating the delirium and during refeeding. DISCUSSION Delirium, albeit rare, can be associated with the refeeding syndrome in low weight patients with AN. During the initial refeeding phase, close monitoring of medical, metabolic, and psychological parameters are important in establishing factors that may elevate risk. Early detection and treatment of delirium using nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic means are also important to help minimize the effects of this potentially deadly condition.

Second‐degree atrioventricular block (Mobitz Type I) in an adolescent with anorexia nervosa: Intrinsic or acquired conduction abnormality

Anorexia nervosa (AN) can cause both functional and structural cardiac complications, including a variety of different conduction abnormalities. This is the first case report of symptomatic diurnal second-degree atrioventricular (AV) block (Mobitz Type I) in an adolescent with AN. We present a 12-year-old girl with AN, restrictor sub-type who reported cardiac symptoms during weight gain, at the time of the initial diagnosis of AV block. Second-degree AV block (Mobitz Type I) is discussed as a possible complication of the AN, as well as being an intrinsic conduction system disease.

Nocturnal enuresis in adolescents with anorexia nervosa: Prevalence, potential causes, and pathophysiology

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and potential causes of secondary nocturnal enuresis (NE) in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN). METHOD Adolescents with AN completed the Incontinence Symptom Index-Pediatric (ISI-P), a self-report urinary incontinence survey. Those who had NE associated with the onset of AN on the ISI-P completed a comprehensive clinical and laboratory evaluation, including urinary flow measurements. RESULTS The prevalence of NE in adolescents with AN was 17.0% (10 of 59). The overall frequency of day- and night-time urinary incontinence symptoms in adolescents with AN was 62.7%; urgency incontinence, 57.6%; stress incontinence, 32.2%; and insensate incontinence, 17.0%. Nine of the 10 adolescents with NE had secondary NE and confirmed that bedwetting ceased after weight restoration. DISCUSSION Decreased functional bladder capacity and detrusor instability may contribute to the NE observed in this population. The high prevalence of NE in adolescents with AN warrants further study to determine the potential causative pathways. Clinicians who work with adolescents with AN should assess for this problem.

Classification of childhood onset eating disorders: A latent class analysis

This study tested the hypothesis that latent class analysis (LCA) would successfully classify eating disorder (ED) symptoms in children into categories that mapped onto DSM-5 diagnoses and that these categories would be consistent across countries. Childhood onset ED cases were ascertained through prospective active surveillance by the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program, and the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit for 36, 24, and 14 months, respectively. Pediatricians and child psychiatrists reported symptoms of any child aged ≤ 12 years with a newly diagnosed restrictive ED. Descriptive analyses and LCA were performed separately for all three countries and compared. Four hundred and thirty-six children were included in the analysis (Australia n = 70; Canada n = 160; United Kingdom n = 206). In each country, LCA revealed two distinct clusters, both of which presented with food avoidance. Cluster 1 (75%, 71%, 66% of the Australian, Canadian, and United Kingdom populations, respectively) presented with symptoms of greater weight preoccupation, fear of being fat, body image distortion, and over exercising, while Cluster 2 did not (all p < .05). Cluster 1 was older, had greater mean weight loss and was more likely to have been admitted to an inpatient unit and have unstable vital signs (all p < .01). Cluster 2 was more likely to present with a comorbid psychiatric disorder (p < .01). Clusters 1 and 2 closely resembled the DSM-5 criteria for anorexia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, respectively. Symptomatology and distribution were remarkably similar among countries, which lends support to two separate and distinct restrictive ED diagnoses.