Cross-sectional study of cognitive function in women with a history of eating disorders in the UK Biobank cohort

Objective: The present study aimed to compare the cognitive functions of women who reported a history of eating disorders (ED) with women who did not report any such history. Within the group of women who reported a history of ED, it aimed to compare the cognitive functions of those who met anorexia nervosa body mass index (BMI) criteria at the time of assessment with those who did not meet such criteria. Method: The sample in this observational cross-sectional study belonged to the UK Biobank cohort, and consisted of 260,601 women in middle to older age, of whom 347 had a lifetime history of ED. Participants underwent sociodemographic, medical and psychological evaluation, and were assessed with four computerized cognitive tasks. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to take account of covariates. Results: Slower reaction time was found in those with an ED history: differences of small effect size were found across different levels of model adjustment (d=-.096 [95% CI -.201, .009] to -.150 [95% CI -.249, -.052]). Reasoning, visuospatial memory and prospective memory were not significantly different between those with and without a history of ED. A consistent pattern of results was not found when comparing the sub-sample of participants with ED split according to current BMI criteria. Discussion: The findings suggest that an ED history may correlate with slower processing speed in middle to older age, but this may be partly accounted for by clinical covariates. Further research in population-representative cohorts is required.