What do Italian healthcare professionals think about orthorexia nervosa? Results from a multicenter survey.

PURPOSE: Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is an obsession for healthy and proper nutrition. Diagnostic criteria for ON are lacking and the psychopathology of ON is still a matter of debate in the clinical and scientific community. Our aim was to better understand the Italian clinical and scientific community's opinion about ON. METHODS: Anonymous online survey for Italian healthcare professionals, implemented with the REDCap platform and spread through a multicenter collaboration. Information was gathered about socio-demographic, educational and occupational features, as well as about experience in the diagnosis and treatment of EDs. The main part of the survey focused on ON and its features, classification and sociocultural correlates. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 343 participants. Most responders (68.2%) considered ON as a variant of Eating Disorders (EDs), and 58.6% a possible prodromal phase or evolution of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Most participants (68.5%) thought the next DSM should include a specific diagnostic category for ON, preferably in the EDs macro-category (82.1%). Moreover, 77.3% of responders thought that ON deserves more attention on behalf of researchers and clinicians, and that its treatment should be similar to that for EDs (60.9%). Participants thinking that ON should have its own diagnostic category in the next DSM edition had greater odds of being younger (p = 0.004) and of considering ON a prodromic phase of another ED, such as AN (p = 0.039). DISCUSSION: Our survey suggests that the scientific community still seems split between those who consider ON as a separate disorder and those who do not. More research is still needed to better understand the construct of ON and its relationship with EDs; disadvantages and advantages of giving ON its own diagnosis should be balanced. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: V (descriptive cohort study).

Risk and resilience factors for specific and general psychopathology worsening in people with Eating Disorders during COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective Italian multicentre study.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions had negative impact on the psychopathology of people with Eating Disorders (EDs). Factors involved in the vulnerability to stressful events have been under-investigated in this population. We aimed to assess which factors contributed to COVID-19-induced worsening in both general and specific psychopathology. METHODS: Three-hundred and twelve people with a clinically defined diagnosis of an ED and undergoing a specialist ED treatment in different Italian ED services before the spreading of COVID-19 pandemic filled in an online survey. ED specific and general psychopathology changes after COVID-19 quarantine were retrospectively evaluated. Factors related to COVID-19 concerns (financial condition, fear of contagion, perceived social isolation/support, satisfaction in peer, family or sentimental relationships), illness duration and treatment-related variables (type of treatment provided, type of access to care, satisfaction with therapeutic relationships) were included as predicting factors in a structural equational model, which included latent variables consisting of general and ED psychopathology items as outcomes. RESULTS: A perceived low quality of therapeutic relationships, fear of contagion and increased isolation were positively associated with psychopathology worsening. Reduced satisfaction with family and with friends' relationships and reduced perceived social support were associated with ED and general symptoms deterioration, respectively. No significant effect emerged for intimate relationships, illness duration, economic condition and type of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of clinical variables associated with psychopathological changes during the COVID-19 lockdown period highlighting potential risk and resilience factors and, possibly, informing treatment as well as prevention strategies for EDs. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: Evidence obtained from multiple time series analysis such as case studies.

Exploring health-related quality of life in eating disorders by a cross-sectional study and a comprehensive review.

BACKGROUND: People with eating disorders (ED) often report poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL), which is explicitly correlated to illness' severity and its effects on cognitive performance. We aimed to analyze health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in subgroups of eating disorder (ED) patients by using the brief version of WHOQoL questionnaire (WHOQoL-BREF) before treatment administration. Moreover, in order to compare our findings with other published data, we carried out a comprehensive review of the literature on HRQoL in ED patients. METHODS: Our review was carried out by means of an accurate data mining of PsychInfo and Medline databases and other available sources. In our cross-sectional study, eighty female ED patients (26 with bulimia nervosa, 33 with anorexia nervosa, 7 with binge eating disorder and 14 with ED not otherwise specified) completed the WHOQoL-BREF. HRQoL scores were compared among ED subgroups and clinical information (presence of previous contacts, length of illness, psychiatric comorbidity) was considered in the analysis. RESULTS: Our review shows that with few exceptions ED patients have a poorer HRQoL than the healthy population of control and sometimes the mental component of HRQoL is the most involved dimension. Moreover, there are no differences in the HRQoL among ED groups, even if AN patients in some studies have a lower HRQoL scores. Furthermore, BED patients have a poorer HRQoL than obese patients who do not have binge episodes. Finally, all treatments were positively correlated with an improvement on general and specific QoL dimensions. In our sample, ED subgroups differed only for Psychological Health HRQoL scores (F = 4.072, df = 3; p = 0.01). No differences were found between inpatients and outpatients, treatment naïve and previously treated patients and patients with or without psychiatric comorbidity. Moreover, HRQoL scores were not correlated to length of illness within each ED subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of the literature adds some relevant information on HRQoL in ED and may address the future research toward the exploration of specific questions. One of these may be the prominent role of Psychological Health domain in HRQoL, since our study confirms that this component is able to differentiate eating disorders.