Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: A meta-analysis of executive functioning.

Objective: Research investigating the link between eating disorder (ED) diagnosis and executive dysfunction has had conflicting results, yet no meta-analyses have examined the overall association of ED pathology with executive functioning (EF).

Method: Effect sizes were extracted from 32 studies comparing ED groups (27 of anorexia nervosa, 9 of bulimia nervosa) with controls to determine the grand mean effect on EF. Analyses included effects for individual EF measures, as well as an age-based subgroup analysis.