Publications by authors named "Paola Longo"

Background/objectives: The previous literature on purging behavior in eating disorders (EDs) suggests an overall more complicated clinical picture for individuals with this symptomatology. So far, no studies have analyzed the possible differences between the specific types of purging among ED inpatients.

Methods: A clinical sample of 302 inpatients with EDs was classified according to no purging behaviors, vomiting, the abuse of laxatives, and both vomiting and the abuse of laxatives.

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  • This study explored different motivational dimensions in people with anorexia nervosa (AN) using the AN Stage of Change Questionnaire (ANSOCQ) among 300 Italian adults.
  • Researchers found two main motivational dimensions: one related to weight gain and the other concerning attitudes towards eating and emotional issues.
  • The results suggest that higher motivation related to weight gain can predict positive outcomes like weight gain during hospitalization, reinforcing the relevance of using motivational dimensions in treatment.
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Objectives: This study investigates peripersonal space (PPS) modulation in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) versus healthy controls (HCs) and explores associations between PPS, eating-related, and general psychopathology.

Method: Forty-six patients and 42 HCs completed a computer-based task observing videos of an approaching actor (male or female) displaying different facial expressions along with a non-social condition. Then, participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing eating-related and general psychopathology.

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  • The study examines the effectiveness of oral nutrition versus enteral nutrition (using a Nasogastric Tube) in treating hospitalized patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) to understand their impact on Body Mass Index (BMI) and treatment satisfaction.
  • Research shows that while enteral nutrition significantly increases BMI in patients with severe AN, it does not affect their overall satisfaction with treatment.
  • The study also found no significant differences in personality traits between patients on oral versus enteral refeeding, suggesting that enteral feeding can be an effective option when oral refeeding is insufficient.
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Introduction: Evidence on parental educational level (PEL) as a risk factor for Eating Disorders (EDs) is mixed, and no study has assessed its role in relation to the compliance and outcomes of treatments in EDs. Further, no study differentiated from the educational level of mothers and fathers, nor considered the possible mediation of perfectionism in fostering EDs.

Methods: A clinical sample of 242 first-ever admitted inpatients with EDs provided information on PEL and completed the following questionnaires: the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (F-MPS).

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Purpose: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a mental disorder for which hospitalization is frequently needed in case of severe medical and psychiatric consequences. We aim to describe the state-of-the-art inpatient treatment of AN in real-world reports.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature on the major medical databases, spanning from January 2011 to October 2023, was performed, using the keywords: "inpatient", "hospitalization" and "anorexia nervosa".

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  • The study investigates the link between cognitive impulsivity and anorexia nervosa (AN), contrasting it with historical perspectives that primarily associate impulsivity with bingeing-purging behaviors.
  • Researchers found that individuals with AN exhibited higher levels of cognitive instability compared to healthy controls, despite similar overall impulsivity scores.
  • Cognitive instability was identified as a key predictor of obsessive thoughts and behaviors in AN, suggesting a strong relationship between cognitive impulsivity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in this population.
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Although many researchers addressed the topics, no consistent data are currently available regarding the relationship between perfectionism and personality traits in anorexia nervosa (AN). The present study aimed to assess differences between high- and low-perfectionism groups of patients with AN and to identify which variables show the strongest association with perfectionism. A group of inpatients with AN (n = 193) was recruited and completed a battery of self-report questionnaires regarding eating-related and general psychopathology, perfectionism, and personality.

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The feeling of controlling one's own actions and, through them, impacting the external environment (i.e. Sense of Agency-SoA) can be relevant in the eating disorders (EDs) symptomatology.

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  • * A sample of 225 eating disorder inpatients was examined to assess how caloric restriction correlated with eating symptoms, body image issues, personality traits, and emotional symptoms.
  • * Findings indicate that caloric restriction is significantly associated with various aspects of eating disorder psychopathology, suggesting the need for a more comprehensive evaluation of these disorders.
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The study of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals who attended mental health services is needed to identify the specific vulnerabilities associated to this challenging period. Despite several analyses reporting the worsening of eating disorders symptomatology after the beginning of the pandemic, characterizations of adult inpatients with eating disorders are still lacking. We conducted a retrospective analysis to assess whether adult individuals who underwent hospitalization in a specialized eating disorders unit in the two years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic differed in clinical presentation, psychopathological measures, and treatment outcomes from inpatients hospitalized in the two years before.

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The literature has reported poor concordance in the assessment of psychiatric conditions, and inhomogeneity in the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in Anorexia Nervosa (AN). We aimed to investigate concordance level between clinicians' and researchers' diagnoses of psychiatric comorbidity in AN and differences in eating and general psychopathology between patients with and without psychiatric comorbidity assessed by clinicians versus researchers. A clinical psychiatrist interviewed 122 patients with AN; then a researcher administered the Structured and Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5).

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Background: the role of self-conscious emotions (SCE) such as shame and guilt in eating disorders (ED) has been systematically studied only in recent years, but it is still debated. This study aims to investigate the role of SCE in anorexia nervosa (AN), evaluating the role of self-consciousness.

Methods: fifty-five individuals with AN and seventy-four healthy controls (HC) were enrolled and completed a battery of tests evaluating the proneness to feel shame and guilt, as well as comparing self-consciousness, eating, and general psychopathology.

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Purpose: This study was set up to investigate the reliability, factorial, concurrent, and criterion validity of the Italian version of the 34-item Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and its shorter versions.

Methods: The study included 231 patients diagnosed with an eating disorder and 58 putatively healthy people (comparison sample). The Italian BSQ-34 was administered to participants together with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.

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Purpose: Eating disorders (EDs) are mental illnesses with severe consequences and high mortality rates. Notwithstanding, EDs are considered a niche specialty making it often difficult for researchers to publish in high-impact journals. Subsequently, research on EDs receives less funding than other fields of psychiatry potentially slowing treatment progress.

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Dissociation in anorexia nervosa (AN) is common (literature reported 29% of dissociative disorders in eating disorders) and higher in patients with binge-purging AN (BP-AN) than in those with restricter AN (R-AN). However, the distinction between somatoform (SomD) and psychoform dissociation (PsyD) is understudied. We aimed to assess the differences in PsyD and SomD, eating-related, general, and body-related psychopathology, and childhood trauma between subtypes of AN.

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The validity of body mass index (BMI) specifiers for anorexia nervosa (AN) has been questioned, but their applicability to inpatients with extremely low BMIs and their prognostic validity are currently unknown. Therefore, we designed this study: (a) to test current BMI specifiers in severe inpatients; (b) to explore a "very extreme" specifier (VE-AN; BMI ≤ 13.5); and (c) to verify inpatients' hospitalization outcome according to BMI severity.

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Perfectionism is a risk and maintaining factor for anorexia nervosa (AN) but studies on its classification are lacking. This study aimed to classify patients with AN and healthy controls (HCs) according to their perfectionism; to evaluate the association between perfectionism clusters and severity of general and eating psychopathology for both groups; to investigate the relationship between baseline perfectionism and hospitalization outcome for patients. A sample of 207 inpatients with AN and 292 HCs completed: Eating Disorders Inventory-2, Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, and State- Trait Anxiety Inventory.

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Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric illness with multifactorial etiology and unsatisfactory treatment outcomes. Hospitalization is required for a substantial number of patients, and readmission (RA) commonly occurs. Some individuals need multiple hospitalizations sometimes over a short amount of time, thus, delineating the "revolving door" (RD) phenomenon.

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: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex disorder whose etiopathogenesis involves both biological and environmental factors. The aims of the present study were to retrospectively analyze risk factors in young patients with AN and to assess differences in clinical and eating-related symptoms between patients with and without a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and with or without a history of acknowledged risk factors. : Sixty-four patients with AN (<25 years old) were recruited and completed an anamnestic evaluation and the following self-report measures: Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Life Events Checklist (LEC), and Dissociative Experience Scale (DES).

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Dissociation is a debilitating condition often present as comorbidity in patients with eating disorders, but to date only sparse findings are available on this topic. Additionally, very little data exist on the classification of dissociation, namely, psychoform and somatoform, in anorexia nervosa (AN). This review aimed to provide an updated view on the literature about dissociation in AN, with a focus on AN subtypes (i.

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: Traumatic Events (TEs) are often seen as risk factors not only for the development of eating disorders (EDs) but also for their impact on the severity of clinical presentation and psychiatric comorbidities. : This study aimed to assess the prevalence and time of occurrence of TEs in the two subtypes of anorexia nervosa (AN; restricting [RAN] and binge-purging [BPAN]) and to investigate differences in TEs (number, type, frequency) as well as clusters of post-traumatic symptoms and emotional dysregulation between the two groups. : Seventy-seven hospitalized women were recruited and divided into two subgroups according to their AN subtype.

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Treatment guidelines recommend omega-3 with Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) content not above 85% in patients with high plasma levels of triglycerides. Since the different up to date formulation of omega-3 available in commerce must be similar to clinical efficacy and safety, herein, we report the case a 52-year-old woman who presented clinical inefficacy using Olevia(®) omega-3 treatment. Clinical evaluation excluded the presence of intestinal or systemic diseases able to reduce the drug absorption.

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Generic formulations represent a way to reduce the costs of brand compounds when their patent is expired. While, the bio-equivalence in generic drugs is guaranteed, some excipients as well as dyes could be different and this could reduce the drug safety. Herein, we report the development of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) in two patients after the switch from brand to generic formulations.

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