Neuropsychological study of underweight and "Weight-recovered" anorexia nervosa compared with bulimia nervosa and normal controls

Objective: To compare executive, memory and visuospatial functioning of DSM-IV anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and normal controls (NO. Method: A comparison of women involving: (i) 16 AN with body mass indices (BMI) <= 17.5 kg/m(2); (ii) 12 AN with BMI > 18.5 kg/m(2) for at least 3 months; (iii) 13 BN; and (iv) 16 NC participants was performed with groups of similar age and intelligence. Groups were assessed with EDE-12, MADRS, HAMA, Cognitive Drug Research (CDR) battery, and Bechara tasks. Results: Significant impairments in CDR Power of Attention were present in underweight AN and BN participants. CDR Morse Tapping was significantly impaired in all clinical groups. The BN and weight-recovered AN groups were significantly impaired on CDR immediate word recall. The EN group alone was significantly impaired on CDR delayed word recall. Conclusion: Attentional impairment is similar in AN and BN. impaired motor tasks in AN persist after "weight-recovery" and are similar to impairments in EN, BN may be discriminated from AN on word recall. (C) 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.