Clinical Phenotypes and Neurobiology of Youth With Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder ( ARFID ) Across Sex

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Objective: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is an eating disorder characterized by persistent avoidant/restrictive eating unrelated to body image. Sex differences in clinical phenotypes and neurobiology of ARFID are understudied. We hypothesized that females with ARFID would have a greater frequency of the lack of interest and fear of aversive consequences phenotypes, higher levels of anorexigenic hormones, and greater fMRI activation in brain regions associated with cognitive control during a food cue paradigm. We further hypothesized that males with ARFID would have a greater frequency of the sensory sensitivity profile, higher levels of orexigenic hormones, and greater fMRI activation in reward processing brain regions. Method: We recruited 96 children and adolescents with ARFID and sub‐threshold ARFID (49% female) from two studies on the neurobiology of ARFID and low weight eating disorders from 2016 to 2022. We analyzed ARFID clinical phenotypes; appetite‐regulating hormones, ghrelin, cholecystokinin (CCK), peptide YY (PYY), and oxytocin; and fMRI activation of cognitive control and reward‐related brain regions during a food cue paradigm using frequentist and Bayesian statistical analysis. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, there were no sex differences in frequency of ARFID clinical phenotypes, appetite‐regulating hormone levels, or brain activation. Conclusions: This is the first study to provide empirical evidence that ARFID has a similar clinical and neurobiological presentation in males and females.
Funding Information
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH108595)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (K24MH120568)
  • Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard (K24MH135189)
  • Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard (P30DK04056)
  • Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard (K23DK131334)

This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit: