Early detection of vomit behaviour in patients with eating disorders
Problema a solucionar
Eating Disorders (ED) patients, specifically those with bulimic/purgative Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), present vomiting behaviour. These patients represent 70% of the total cases that attend to a specialized Unit for an eating disorder. Up to now, the only way to detect a vomiting behaviour, and therefore to adequately diagnose these patients, is self-reported behaviour by the patient or relatives. There is no biological marker that allows identifying the presence of vomiting behaviour in these patients.
Tecnologia
The present invention allows the diagnostic and monitoring of purging behaviour as well as its severity in patients with EDs, at an early stage, using saliva samples, that can be collected non-invasively and simply, being able to complement the classical tools used up to now. The invention proposes an in-vitro kit including one or more primer pairs able to amplify the bacteria belonging to a selected genus as a tool for the detection of vomit behaviour.
Autors
Fernando Fernández Aranda
Technology Readiness Level
TRL4
Què busquem?
Co-development or licensing