Ghrelin as a possible biomarker and maintaining factor in patients with eating disorders reporting childhood traumatic experiences

Abstract

Objective The recent conceptualization of ghrelin as a stress hormone suggested that its chronic alterations may have a role in maintaining overeating behaviors in subjects with eating disorders (EDs) reporting childhood traumatic experiences. The aim of this study was to investigate the alterations of ghrelin levels in patients with EDs, their associations with early trauma, binge and emotional eating, and possible moderation/mediation models. Method Sixty‐four patients with EDs and 42 healthy controls (HCs) had their plasma ghrelin levels measured and completed questionnaires evaluating general and ED‐specific psychopathology, emotional eating, and childhood traumatic experiences. Results Participants with anorexia nervosa had higher ghrelin levels than HCs in body mass index (BMI)‐adjusted comparisons. Moreover, patients reporting a history of childhood trauma had higher ghrelin levels. Childhood sexual abuse (CSA), BMI, and self‐induced vomiting were independent predictors of ghrelin levels. Moderation analyses showed that ghrelin levels were associated with binge and emotional eating only for higher levels of childhood trauma. Elevated ghrelin was a significant mediator for the association of CSA with binge eating. Conclusions These results support the hypothesis that chronic alterations in ghrelin levels following childhood traumatic experiences could represent a neurobiological maintaining factor of pathological overeating behaviors in EDs.

Appetite hormone dysregulation, body mass index, and emotional dysregulation in nonobese adolescents with first-episode schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder: a cross-sectional association study

“…Lopez-Aguilar et al 40 and Raspopow et al 41 demonstrated that impulsive and emotional eating was associated with ghrelin and cortisol dysregulation, which was suggested that emotional eating coupled with subjective feelings of hunger, might contribute to eating in response to a psychological stressor. Rossi et al 42 further revealed that ghrelin levels were positively associated with emotional eating, particularly among those who experienced childhood trauma Evidence has supported a pivotal relationship of childhood trauma with the severe mental disorders as well as severe emotional dysregulation 43 …”

Provisional posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with greater severity of eating disorder and comorbid symptoms in adolescents treated in residential care

“…Furthermore, adolescent PTSD is characterized by developmental abnormalities in frontolimbic circuitry that may contribute to increasing threat reactivity, weaker emotion regulation and higher rates of internalizing symptoms, such as anxiety and depression (Herringa, 2017;Herringa et al, 2013). Disrupted neurobiological systems hypothesized to be dysregulated in traumatized ED patients are being explored (Brewerton et al, 2020a;Monteleone et al, 2019b;Murray & Holton, 2021;Rodriguez-Quiroga et al, 2021;Rossi et al, 2021). It is notable that patients in the PTSD+ group presented with significantly higher mean %MBMI than those without PTSD.…”

A Multicenter Network Analysis Examining the Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients with Eating Disorders versus Their Healthy Siblings

“…A growing body of literature has studied the role of traumatic events in developing EDs, even when the actual effects are still not well understood [ 9 , 10 ]. However, different studies have documented the presence of different biological scars in subjects with EDs and personal histories of maltreatment, in line with the hypothesis of a traumatic echo-phenotype of EDs [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. According to this perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic might represent an interesting traumatic event for patients [ 15 , 16 ], that has been shared by siblings, and this might help researchers better understand individuals’ coping strategies.…”