title: The sorting test of the D-KEFS in current and weight restored anorexia nervosa patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Efforts have been made to characterize executive functions (EF) in anorexia nervosa (AN) both in the acute stage of the illness and after weight gain, yet many questions remain. The question of verbal versus visuo-perceptual stimuli in this regard has not been adequately addressed. The aim of this study is to further examine EF in women with past and present AN and to compare their performances in verbal and visual modalities with women who have never suffered from an eating disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-five underweight AN patients, 33 weight-restored patients symptom-free for at least 2 years, and 48 healthy female controls completed the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Sorting Test, so as to evaluate their EF.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No differences were observed between the scores of women with current and past AN. Both groups scored lower than controls on most test variables. However, while in the visuo-perceptual domain the performance of the AN groups was worse than that of controls, in the verbal domain they performed similarly to them.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women with a past or present diagnosis of AN show difficulties in visuo-perceptual EF, whereas verbal EF seem to be preserved. There may be a dissociation between verbal and visuo-perceptual EF that persists after weight restoration.
authors.affiliation: Day Treatment Rehabilitation Unit, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heled
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hoofien
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bachner-Melman
authors.forename: Eytan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bachar
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Ebstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D063189:Symptom Assessment; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Delis-Kaplan executive function system sorting test; anorexia nervosa; executive functions