Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2021; 27(24): 3668-3681
Published online Jun 28, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i24.3668
Disorders of the brain-gut interaction and eating disorders
Mihaela Fadgyas Stanculete, Giuseppe Chiarioni, Dan Lucian Dumitrascu, Dinu Iuliu Dumitrascu, Stefan-Lucian Popa
Mihaela Fadgyas Stanculete, Department of Neurosciences, Discipline of Psychiatry and Pediatric Psychiatry, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca RO 400174, Romania
Giuseppe Chiarioni, Division of Gastroenterology of the University of Verona, AOUI Verona, Verona 37134, Italy
Dan Lucian Dumitrascu, Stefan-Lucian Popa, Department of The Second Medical, "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca RO 400174, Cluj, Romania
Dinu Iuliu Dumitrascu, Department of Anatomy, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca RO 400174, Cluj, Romania
Author contributions: Stanculete MF, Chiarioni G, Popa SL, Dumitrascu DI searched the literature, analyzed the results and made substantial contribution to the writing of the manuscript; Dumitrascu DL gave the idea of this review, suggested the methodology, analyzed the results, and revised the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest to be declared by all of the Authors.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Giuseppe Chiarioni, MD, Adjunct Professor, Division of Gastroenterology of the University of Verona, AOUI Verona, Piazzale LA Scuro 10, Verona 37134, Italy. chiarioni@alice.it
Received: January 22, 2021
Peer-review started: January 22, 2021
First decision: February 28, 2021
Revised: March 12, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2021
Article in press: June 3, 2021
Published online: June 28, 2021
Processing time: 153 Days and 14.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Eating disorders (ED) involve both the nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. A similar double involvement is also found in disorders of the brain-gut interaction (DGBI) and symptoms are sometimes similar.

AIM

To find out where there is an association and a cause-effect relationship, we looked for the comorbidity of DGBI and ED.

METHODS

A systematic review was undertaken. A literature search was performed. Inclusion criteria for the articles retained for analysis were: Observational cohort population-based or hospital-based and case-control studies, examining the relationship between DGBI and ED. Exclusion criteria were: Studies written in other languages than English, abstracts, conference presentations, letters to the Editor and editorials. Selected papers by two independent investigators were critically evaluated and included in this review.

RESULTS

We found 29 articles analyzing the relation between DGBI and ED comprising 13 articles on gastroparesis, 5 articles on functional dyspepsia, 7 articles about functional constipation and 4 articles on irritable bowel syndrome.

CONCLUSION

There is no evidence for a cause-effect relationship between DGBI and ED. Their common symptomatology requires correct identification and a tailored therapy of each disorder.

Keywords: Eating disorders; Dyspepsia; Constipation; Irritable bowel syndrome, Anorexia; Gastroparesis

Core Tip: Functional gastrointestinal disorders actually defined disorders of the brain-gut interaction (DGBI) by the new Rome IV criteria share similar symptoms with eating disorders (ED). Etiology is ill defined for both disorders thou a negative impact on quality of life and a high socio-economic burden is reported. We looked for the comorbidity of DGBI and ED, in order to find out where there is an association and a cause-effect relationship.