The BEACON study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Brain imaging Of Emotion And Cognition Of adolescents with anorexia Nervosa (The BEACON study)
IRAS ID
220140
Contact name
Kate Tchanturia
Sponsor organisation
Kings College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Difficulties in cognitive and emotion processing has been observed in adults with AN and, albeit in an attenuated form, both adolescents with AN and unaffected relatives. It is thought to be a possible underlying mechanism in AN, likely to contribute to both disorder vulnerability and maintenance. Elucidating the neural correlates of this processing could help to give a better understanding of possible underlying factors and develop more targeted treatments.
AIMS:
This study aims to investigate the brain correlates of cognitive and emotion processing in children and adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa (AN), and investigate whether differential patterns of brain function can be matched to illness severity.SETTING:
Participants with AN will be recruited for the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Service, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust. Healthy control participants will be recruited from advertisements in local community areas (e.g. libraries).APPROACH:
We will use function Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to examine both structural and functional differences between adolescents with AN and healthy control adolescents (all aged between 12-18 years). Participants will be asked to complete neuropsychological tasks in and out of the fMRI scanner as well as completing self-report questionnaires. To assess whether different profiles of processing and structural and function changes are related to the stage of illness, we will also use data previously collected in our lab from adults with AN that used a similar methodology.REC name
London - Surrey Borders Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0271
Date of REC Opinion
9 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion