Cognition and the risk of eating disorders in Spanish adolescents: the AVENA and AFINOS studies.

UNLABELLED: Eating disorders (ED) can arise from a combination of biological and psychological factors. Some studies suggest that intellectual factors might be important in the development of ED, although the evidence is still scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the association between cognition measurements (cognitive performance and academic achievement) and the risk of developing ED in adolescents considering their weight status. The sample consisted of 3,307 adolescents (1,756 girls), aged 13-18.5 years, who participated in the AVENA (n = 1,430; 783 girls) and AFINOS (n = 1,877; 973 girls) studies. Cognitive performance was measured by the TEA test in the AVENA study, and academic achievement was self-reported in the AFINOS study. ED risk was evaluated in both studies by using the SCOFF questionnaire. Body mass index was calculated to classify adolescents as non-overweight or overweight (including obesity). Overweight adolescents showed a higher risk of developing ED than non-overweight ones in both studies. In the AVENA study, overweight boys with low performance in reasoning ability showed increased risk of ED (p = 0.05). In the AFINOS study, overweight boys with low academic performance in physical education and non-overweight girls with low academic achievement in all the areas analyzed showed higher risk of ED than their peers (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: No association between cognitive performance and ED risk was found in adolescents, while academic achievement was associated with ED risk, especially in non-overweight girls. The non-cognitive traits that accompany academic achievement could influence the likelihood of developing ED in these girls.

Definitive and adjunctive external irradiation in bladder cancer without radical cystectomy.

The retrospective study of 150 bladder tumor cases from I.P.O. (Madrid) that had received a total dose of 5,000 rads of radiotherapy and a minimum 3-year follow-up without subsequent radical surgery is presented. During 1974-1978 all those cases that complied with the minimum requirements were selected. Radiotherapy effectiveness has not been defined. In this series we report the natural evolution of patients with this final treatment. The fact that invasive bladder tumors will become downstaged following irradiation is well known. The percentage varies from 10-40 percent within a short period of time after radiotherapy. The time of response, the possibility of relapse, the prevention of new tumors and the delay in the evolution and disease progression have not been well established. Thus, we have tried to analyze in our series, the time period of tumor relapse in the superficial tumor group, the influence of radiotherapy, as well as the overall survival. In the advanced tumor group, we have examined the response of the tumor to radiotherapy, its lasting period, and survivals. In clinic, a high number of patients with invasive bladder tumor do not undergo total surgery because of the frequent high surgery risk, old age, patient refusal, or indecision by the surgeon. Sometimes the real aggressiveness of the tumors is not apparent initially, or, at diagnosis, the disease has advanced to a stage that precludes effective surgery. In view of the results of chemotherapy in advanced bladder tumors, definitive radiotherapy in older patients with frequent renal dysfunction can result in frequent control of hematuria as well as tumor regression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)