Oral Lesions in Patients With Eating Disorders

NCT ID: NCT05809778

Last Updated: 2025-05-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Total Enrollment: 81 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-07-21
• Study Completion Date: 2025-12-31

Brief Summary

Eating disorders (ED) are common among young. Anorexia (AN) and bulimia (BN) are the most prevalent ED. The American Psychiatric Association's guidelines state a 0.3% AN prevalence among young girls and a 0.1 to 4.2% BN prevalence. Men are not excluded: even if ED are more frequent in females (14-18 years), 1 man off to 10 can be diagnosed with ED. Unfortunately, the onset age is decreasing. In the last few years, always more preteens patients are diagnosed with ED: they generally refer a garbled self perception of body image. ED can have oral manifestations, such as: mucosal lesions, dental erosion, glandular hypertrophy, xerostomia and salivary disorders, dental caries These are the most common manifestations observed in patients with eating disorders, after a routine dental visit. There is not strong evidence that dental caries may be directly related to disordered eating habits; as a matter of fact results are controversial. Despite that, all the studies examined agree on the association between signs listed above and food disorders. Univocal percentages have not been reported in the scientific literature. For instance, a systematic review, dated 2016, showed that dental erosion is diagnosed in 45% of ED people, while other studies documented 70% patients affected by erosion. Another example reported is teeth hypersensitivity. According to some studies, 56% of ED patients reported such complaints, instead of other researches documenting 22% hypersensitivity impairment. As for dental caries, results are dissimilar. Authors showed 78% ED subjects diagnosed with dental caries. Other studies reported almost 50% patients with tooth decay, without statistically significant difference in the values between ED people and controls. All these differences are probably due to the different stages of eating disorders and diagnosis, and oral signs found. Different ages are also considered. The primary aim of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of oral cavity lesions among people affected by eating disorders.

Conditions

Eating Disorders

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: OTHER
• Study Time Perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. Diagnosis of ED

2. Age between 10 and 18 years

Exclusion Criteria

1. Parents or caregivers not understanding the Italian language

2. Patients affected by other systemic diseases

• Minimum Eligible Age: 10 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

IRCCS Burlo Garofolo

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Milena Cadenaro, MD

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo

Locations

Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo"

Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Italy

Central Contacts

Milena Cadenaro, MD

Role: CONTACT

milena.cadenaro@burlo.trieste.it

+390403785393

Valentina Luppieri, MD

Role: CONTACT

valentina.luppieri@burlo.trieste.it

00390403785393

Facility Contacts

Valentina Luppieri, MD

Role: primary

valentina.luppieri@burlo.trieste.it

+390403785393

Other Identifiers

RC 18/21

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id