Table 1.
Description of studies included in the first meta-analysis
| Study | BED n (females) | Controls n (females) | Pooled age | Pooled BMI | Evaluation of psychological comorbidities | Outcomes● | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scale▴ | Reported affective symptoms■ | Current psychiatric comorbidities | ||||||
| Aloi et al., 2015 | 45(45) | 45(45) | 28.1 | 27.7 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression symptoms between groups. BDI score included as covariate. Depression negatively correlated with cognitive flexibility | _ |
Cognitive Flexibility: WCST (perseverative errors), TMT (B-A). Inhibition: HSCT(B-A) Others: IGT (total net score), RCFT (accuracy) |
| Banca et al., 2016 | 32(18) | 126(60) | 43.22 | 25.38 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression between groups. Results tested before and after covarying for depression (no differences found) | _ | Cognitive Flexibility: Probabilistic Reversal Task (n° of trials to criterion of 4 correct sequential choices, reward condition in acquisition phase) |
| Bartholdy et al., 2017 | 11(11) | 28(28) | 25.79 | 23.96 | DASS-21 | NS-Diff in depression between groups. Depression was not correlated with monetary temporal discounting task | BED group: psychotropic medication (n = 1) | Others: Monetary temporal discounting task (area under curve) |
| Blume et al., 2018 | 42(30) | 23(17) | 38.95 | 42.35 | PHQ-9 | S-Diff in depression symptoms between groups. No further control | _ |
Cognitive Flexibility: WCST (perseverative errors) Inhibition: GNG (commission errors) Others: IGT (total net score), DDT (area under curve) |
| Córdova et al., 2017 | 18(12) | 18(15) | 45.1 | 38.54 | _ | _ | _ |
Others: IGT (total net score) |
| Danner et al., 2012 | 19(19( | 48(48) | 38.94 | 29.26 | IDS-SR | S-Diff in depression symptoms between groups. Depression as covariate had no effect on IGT performance | _ | Others: IGT (total net score) |
| Dingemans et al., 2019 | 25(22) | 56(49) | 35.5 | 28.13 | BDI-II | None-to-mild depressive symptoms in BED group. Depressive symptoms were correlated with overall neuropsychological inefficiencies | BED group: psychiatric disorder not specified (n = 10) |
Cognitive Flexibility: WCST (perseverative errors), TMT (B-A). Working Memory: BDS, FDS Inhibition: BRIEF-A (behavioral index), Stroop test (trial3/trial1) Others: RCFT (central coherence), IGT (total net score) |
| Duchesne et al., 2010 | 38(29) | 38(34) | 34.35 | 36.24 | _ | _ | Whole sample: specific phobia (12%), generalized anxiety disorder (10%), dysthymic disorder (6%), panic disorder (9%), agoraphobia (4%), social phobia (5%), alcohol abuse/dependence (3%), posttraumatic stress disorder (3%), premenstrual dysphoric disorder (2%), obsessive–compulsive disorder (2%), and others (1%) |
Cognitive Flexibility: WCST (perseverative errors), TMT-B, BADS Rule Shift Cards (n° errors) Working Memory: BDS, FDS Inhibition: Stroop test (correct answers, color-word trial) Others: BADS Action Program Test (n° stages completed), BADS Zoo Map Test (trial 1, n° errors), BADS Modified Six Elements |
| Eneva et al., 2017 | 55(55) | 77(77) | 32.1 | 28.4 | _ | Presence of psychiatric disorders did not significantly correlate with performance on any executive function measures | BED group: mood disorder (n = 5), anxiety (n = 10) |
Cognitive Flexibility: DKEFS-trail making switching, NIH dimensional change card sort Working Memory: NIH working memory Inhibition: DKEFS color word interference inhibition, NIH flanker inhibitory control Others: DKEFS verbal fluency, design fluency and tower achievement |
| Grant & Chamberlain, 2020 | 17(11) | 17(11) | 24.62 | 32.63 | HAM-D, HAM-A |
BED group reported subclinical levels of depression and anxiety. No further control | BED group: agoraphobia (n = 2), social phobia (n = 1), cannabis use disorder (n = 1), antisocial personality disorder (n = 1) |
Cognitive Flexibility: IED (total errors, adjusted for stages not completed) Working Memory: One Touch Stockings of Cambridge task (problems solved on first choice), Spatial Working Memory Task* (total errors) Inhibition: SST (stop-signal reaction time) Others: CGT (quality of decision making) |
| Kittel et al., 2017 | 22(18) | 44(36) | 14.99 | 85.66* | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression symptoms between groups. Affective symptoms were not correlated with neuropsychological test scores | _ |
Cognitive Flexibility: CTMT (complex sequencing, T values) Inhibition: Color-word interference Others: IGT (total net score) |
| Kollei et al., 2018 | 48(37) | 96(65) | 38.76 | 36.32 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression between groups. Depressive symptoms as covariate. Multivariate effect of depression was non-significant | Whole sample: major depressive disorder (n = 17), anxiety disorder (n = 24), posttraumatic stress disorder (n = 4), obsessive–compulsive disorder (n = 2) |
Cognitive Flexibility: IED (total errors) Others: CGT (quality of decision making) |
| Lee et al., 2017 | 13(13) | 14(14) | 23.44 | 22.9 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression and anxiety symptoms between groups. No further control | _ | Inhibition: Stroop match-to-sample task (accuracy, neutral stimuli) |
| Müller et al., 2014 | 34(26) | 34(26) | 38.35 | 46.65 | PHQ-9 | S-Diff in depression between groups. Results tested before and after covarying for depression (no differences found) | _ |
Working Memory: Corsi Block Tapping Test (correct answers) Others: IGT (total net score) |
| Oliva et al., 2019 | 21(17) | 21(16) | 24.56 | 21.79 | _ | _ | _ | Inhibition: GNG (reaction time, neutral condition), SST (stop-signal reaction time, neutral condition) |
| Preuss et al., 2019 | 24(21) | 77(66) | 37.39 | 30.34 | PHQ-9, BDI-II |
S-Diff in depression between groups. No further control | Whole sample: depressive disorder (n = 16), anxiety disorder (n = 15), borderline personality disorder (n = 5), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (n = 3), skin picking disorder (n = 1), substance abuse (n = 1) |
Inhibition: SST (stop-signal reaction time) Others: DOT (opened doors) |
| Reiter et al., 2017 | 22(16) | 22(15) | 28.4 | 27.16 | _ | _ | _ |
Cognitive Flexibility: TMT-B Working Memory: BDS Others: Digit- Symbol-Substitution Test, Matrices Test |
| Rouel et al., 2016 | 70 (58) | 28(22) | 41.35 | 39.3 | DASS-21 | NS-Diff in depression. anxiety and stress symptoms between groups | _ |
Cognitive Flexibility: WCST (perseverative errors), TMT (B-A) Working Memory: BDS Others: RCFT |
| Steward et al., 2017 | 24(24) | 80(80) | 25.45 | 25.6 | _ |
_ | _ | Others: Monetary choice task (delay discounting: k overall values) |
| Svaldi et al., 2010 | 17(17) | 18(18) | 40.3 | 31.72 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression symptoms between groups. No further control | BED group: 23.5% major depression, 17.6% panic disorder with agoraphobia, 11.8% social phobia, 5.9% post-traumatic stress disorder, 5.9% generalized anxiety disorder, 5.9% somatization disorder | Cognitive Flexibility: TMT-proportional score(B-A/A) |
| Svaldi, Schmitz, et al., 2014 | 31(31) | 36(36) | 43.32 | 34.15 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression symptoms between groups. Depression was not correlated with recent-probes task | BED group: affective and anxiety disorders were the most prevalent comorbidities (n not specified) |
Others: Recent-probes task (accuracy) |
| Svaldi, Naumann, et al., 2014 | 31(31) | 29(29) | 42.88 | 34.03 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression between groups. Depression was correlated with response time in all go trials | Whole sample: major depression (n = 2), dysthymia (n = 1), panic disorder (n = 2), social phobia (n = 2), specific phobia (n = 2), obsessive compulsive disorder (n = 1), post-traumatic stress disorder (n = 1), pain disorder (n = 1) | Inhibition: SST (neutral condition, commission errors) |
| Wu et al., 2013 | 54(49) | 74(72) | 36.63 | 31.46 | BDI-II | S-Diff in depression symptoms between groups. Results tested with and without BED patients on psychotropic medication (no differences found). Depression was not correlated with SSRT | BED group: psychotropic medication (n = 19) |
Inhibition: SST (stop-signal reaction time) Others: GDT (total net score) |
*BMI Percentile, **BMI z-score.
▴Scale: DASS-21 = Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales; BDI-II = Beck Depression Inventory-II; PHQ = Patient Health Questionnaire-Depression Scale; HAM-D = Hamilton Depression Rating Scale ; HAM-A = Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale ; IDS-SR = Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology Self-Rated.
■Reported affective symptoms: S-Diff = Significant differences; NS-Diff = Nonsignificant differences.
●Outcomes: BDS = Backward Digit Span; FDS = Forward Digit Span; WCST = Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; TMT = Trail Making Test; RCFT = Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test; IGT = Iowa Gambling Task; DDT = Delay Discounting Task; BREIF-A = Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult version; SST = Stop Signal Task; CGT = Cambridge Gambling task; IED = Intra/Extradimensional Set-Shift Task; GNG = Go/No-Go task; HSCT = Hayling Sentence Completion Test; GDT = Game of Dice Task; DOT = Door Opening Task.