Studies how the body's inner signals relate to obesity

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for right-handed women aged 18 to 55 who have obesity and are in rehabilitation treatment at the Istituto Auxologico.

Age

18 to 55 years

Sex

Women only

Disease stage

Diagnosed with obesity.

Earlier treatment

Must be in rehabilitative treatment at the Istituto Auxologico.

Main reasons for not taking part

• Another neurological disorder, such as a neurodevelopmental one (for example autism)
• Motor or somatosensory disorders
• Psychiatric disorders

The registry criteria, word for word

Check if you might fit

Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.

• Are you between 18 and 55 years old?YesNo

What the trial wants to find out

Successfully perceiving the flow of interoceptive cues and integrating them with exteroceptive information are fundamental aspects of countering the body's inherent instability and guaranteeing homeostatic regulation. This process deeply affects cognitive/emotional functioning and general health. Recently, it has been suggested that an important signature underpinning obesity might be an interoceptive dysfunction in perceiving internal body signals and/or integrating them with information from the external environment. There is evidence that interoceptive deficits correlate with Body Mass Index (BMI), but it is still largely unclear how different measures and facets of interoception are related to high BMI and eating behaviour. Within this framework, it is mandatory to understand the role of interoception in obesity at perceptual, cognitive, and emotional levels. One open issue regards the relationships between interoceptive signals and the reactivity to external food cues.

The 2 groups in the trial

• Cases

  Right-handed women diagnosed with obesity are consecutively recruited during their rehabilitative treatment at the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, San Giuseppe Hospital (Italy). Concurrent neurological, neurodevelopmental (e.g., autism), motor, somatosensory and/or psychiatric disorders are exclusion criteria.

  Treatment: The crossmodal dual-task

• Controls

  Age-matched, right-handed, healthy women (i.e., with no history of eating disorders) are recruited outside the hospital through personal contacts of the researchers and word-of-mouth.

  Treatment: The crossmodal dual-task