TABLE 1.

Summary of recommendations

Recommendations	Author consensus rating 1 = Desirable 2 = Strongly desirable 3 = Essential
Demographic data, illness state, and development
• Match study groups for age	3
• Consider race and ethnicity in the analyses	1
• Report duration of illness and test for effect on study results	Report = 3, Test = 1
• Assess handedness and account for nonright-handed individuals in the analyses	Report = 3, Test = 2
• Report on the effects of body mass index (BMI, in adults) or age adjusted BMI percentile (youth) on brain measures within groups	3
• Specify in recovered study groups level of recovery and test for its relationship with brain structure and function	3
Effects of starvation, hydration status, exercise, binge eating, and purging
• Indicate the methods and procedures under what nutritional conditions a study was conducted	3
• Report binge-eating and purging frequency and test against study outcome measures	3
• Report on the weight that a participant lost or gained within the last weeks before brain imaging procedures	2
• Report the last food intake before brain imaging procedures, and standardize pre-scan meals	Report = 3, Test = 2
• Quantify exercise quantity and quality and test their effects on brain imaging data	1
• Report the history of other eating disorders than the type described in study and test whether this affects brain measures	Report 3, Test = 1
• Test to what extent regional brain structure measures, such as gray matter volume, may contribute to regional functional imaging findings	1
Stage of treatment
• Describe the specific treatment setting (or lack of treatment) of study participants	3
• Indicate whether study participants that were in treatment were all in the same setting or treatment with the same treatment modality and test against each other for effects on brain imaging results	1
• Report the length of time in treatment and weight change between start of treatment and scan and test for effects on brain structure or function	2
Hormonal effects
• Consider sex effects and when possible study males and females separately	Report = 3, Test = 1
• Document menstrual status (e.g., pre- vs. post-menarcheal, presence, and duration of amenorrhea) and use in the imaging analyses	3
• Study menstruating females during the same menstrual cycle phase or take cycle phase into consideration when analyzing brain imaging data	2
• Study females at least eight weeks off of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs), or if taking OCPs, compare to a control population also taking OCPs or use OCP use as a covariate in the analyses	1
• Standardize and report conditions under which hormones are assessed	Report = 3, Standardize = 1
• Consider other factors that influence hormones, such as exercise or stress level	1
Comorbidity and medication
• Use diagnostic instruments that go beyond eating disorder diagnosis to assess study participants	3
• Investigate the effects of comorbid conditions on brain imaging results	2
• Report use of medication, alcohol, tobacco and caffeine and test for effects on brain imaging data	Report = 3, Test = 1
• Medication use should be stable before conducting brain imaging procedures	2
Technical and statistical considerations, and study design
• Provide a justification for sample size and statistical analysis methods	Sample size = 1, Statistics = 3
• Describe task stimuli and their application during fMRI in detail and match with their respective control condition	3
• Ensure that outliers do not drive group results	3
• Examine whether data are normally distributed or not and select the appropriate tests for statistical analyses (parametric, nonparametric)	3
• Follow the latest recommendations for brain imaging analysis and describe how motion correction was conducted	3

Note. The consensus rating is based on author ratings for desirable and essential information to be included in eating disorder brain imaging studies; report, report descriptive results in the manuscript; test, test data for effects on brain imaging results.