ArticleEuropean eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association2021
Ghrelin as a possible biomarker and maintaining factor in patients with eating disorders reporting childhood traumatic experiences.
Article in European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bulimia nervosa.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026Review
- Associations Among Anxiety, Sleep Quality, and Binge Eating in Hispanic and African American/Black Early Adolescents.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- GDF15 Is Elevated in Eating Disorders and Is Involved in the Gut-Brain Axis via Ghrelin.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Article
- Exploring markers of feasibility for a pragmatic study of biomarkers in adolescents with eating disorders: steps towards a precision psychiatry approach.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Leptin Levels in Acute and Recovered Eating Disorders: An Arm-Based Network Meta-Analysis.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2025Review
- An Emerging Role for Gut-Brain Signaling Involving Ghrelin in Chronic Stress.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- Childhood sexual abuse is associated with higher total ghrelin serum levels in adulthood: results from a large, population-based study.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
- Associations of early life stress with leptin and ghrelin in healthy young adults.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- A Multicenter Network Analysis Examining the Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients with Eating Disorders versus Their Healthy Siblings.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- A Perspective on Chronic and Long-Lasting Anorexia Nervosa.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe 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.
methodSixty-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.
resultsParticipants 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.
conclusionsThese 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.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.