Food and Development: Children and Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental and Comorbid Eating Disorders—A Case Series

menu Journals Behavioral Sciences Volume 13 Issue 6 10.3390/bs13060499 settingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Food and Development: Children and Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental and Comorbid Eating Disorders—A Case Series by Jacopo Pruccoli 1,2ORCID,Giulia Guardi 1,2,Angela La Tempa 1,2,Beatrice Valeriani 3,Francesca Chiavarino 1,2 andAntonia Parmeggiani 1,2,* 1 Centro Regionale per i Disturbi della Nutrizione e dell’Alimentazione in età Evolutiva, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, U.O. Neuropsichiatria dell’età Pediatrica, 40138 Bologna, Italy 2 Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche (DIMEC), Università di Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy 3 Centre for Chronic Intestinal Failure—Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Unit, Universitaria di Bologna, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero, 40138 Bologna, Italy * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(6), 499; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13060499 Received: 6 March 2023 / Revised: 22 May 2023 / Accepted: 12 June 2023 / Published: 13 June 2023 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Actual Debate on Comorbidity between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children) Download Versions Notes Abstract The impact of psychiatric comorbidities in the diagnosis and treatment of feeding and eating disorders (FEDs) represents an emerging research topic. The current literature, nonetheless, lacks studies investigating the developmental paths of individuals with FEDs and comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Here, we report 11 cases of children and adolescents with comorbid FEDs and NDDs, as assessed along the neuropsychological, psychopathological, and nutritional developmental pathways. The onset of FED-related psychopathology was preceded, sometimes undiagnosed, by altered neurodevelopmental features leading to specific NDD diagnoses (autism spectrum disorder—ASD; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder—ADHD; specific learning disorder—SLD). NDDs appeared to influence the diagnoses and treatments of FEDs, frequently with an impact on socio-relational and emotional premorbid features, and on the possibility to receive and attend FED-targeted treatments. Further studies should longitudinally contribute to assessing the experiences of care and neurodevelopmental pathways of children with FEDs and specific NDD comorbidities.