Neuroimaging insights into brain mechanisms of early-onset restrictive eating disorders
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Early-onset restrictive eating disorders (rEO-ED) encompass a heterogeneous group of conditions, including early-onset anorexia nervosa (EO-AN) and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders (ARFID). However, the impact of rEO-ED on brain morphometry remains largely unknown. Here we performed the largest magnetic resonance imaging-derived brain features comparison of children and early adolescents (<13 years) with EO-AN (n = 124) or ARFID (n = 50) versus typically developing individuals (TD, n = 116). EO-AN was associated with widespread cortex thinning, while underweight patients with ARFID exhibited reduced surface area and volumes compared with TD. Despite similar body mass index distributions, EO-AN and ARFID showed distinct structural patterns, suggesting independent brain mechanisms. Finally, we identified overlapping patterns of brain thickness differences between EO-AN and obsessive–compulsive disorder and between ARFID and autism spectrum disorder. Future studies are required to partition the contribution of body mass index versus rEO-ED mechanisms, as well as to identify shared mechanisms with other neurodevelopmental conditions toward a multidimensional approach of eating disorders.
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 780-788 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Nature Mental Health |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2025 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| ORCID | /0000-0003-2132-4445/work/197964612 |
|---|