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A systematic review and meta-analysis of set-shifting ability in eating disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2007

MARION E. ROBERTS ,
KATE TCHANTURIA ,
DANIEL STAHL ,
LAURA SOUTHGATE  and
JANET TREASURE
MARION E. ROBERTS*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Eating Disorders Research Unit, Department of Academic Psychiatry, King's College, Guy's Hospital, London, UK
KATE TCHANTURIA
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Eating Disorders Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
DANIEL STAHL
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
LAURA SOUTHGATE
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Eating Disorders Research Unit, Department of Academic Psychiatry, King's College, Guy's Hospital, London, UK
JANET TREASURE
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Eating Disorders Research Unit, Department of Academic Psychiatry, King's College, Guy's Hospital, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Marion E. Roberts, Division of Psychological Medicine, Eating Disorders Research Unit, Department of Academic Psychiatry, King's College, 5th Floor Thomas Guy House, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

The aim was to critically appraise and synthesize the literature relating to set-shifting ability in eating disorders. PsycINFO, Medline, and Web of Science databases were searched to December 2005. Hand searching of eating-disorder journals and relevant reference sections was also undertaken.

Method

The 15 selected studies contained both eating disorder and healthy control groups, and employed at least one of the following six neuropsychological measures of set-shifting ability; Trail Making Test (TMT), Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST), Brixton task, Haptic Illusion, CatBat task, or the set-shifting subset of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). The outcome variable was performance on the set-shifting aspect of the task. Pooled standardized mean differences (effect sizes) were calculated.

Results

TMT, WCST, CatBat and Haptic tasks had sufficient sample sizes for meta-analysis. These four tasks yielded acceptable pooled standardized effect sizes (0·36; TMT −1·05; Haptic) with moderate variation within studies (as measured by confidence intervals). The Brixton task showed a small pooled mean difference, and displayed more variation between sample results. The effect size for CANTAB set shifting was 0·17.

Conclusion

Problems in set shifting as measured by a variety of neuropsychological tasks are present in people with eating disorders.

Type
Review Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 37 , Issue 8 , August 2007 , pp. 1075 - 1084
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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