Eating disorder rates jumped ‘significantly’ among adolescents amid COVID: study | Globalnews.ca

You can read the study here: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/195/38/E1291?rss=1

Quoted Sections:

Results: Compared with expected rates derived from the prepandemic period, emergency department visits for eating disorders increased during the pandemic among adolescents aged 10–17 years (7.38 v. 3.33 per 100 000; incidence rate ratio [IRR] 2.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.17–2.26), young adults aged 18–26 years (2.79 v. 2.46 per 100 000; IRR 1.13, 95% CI 1.10–1.16) and older adults aged 41–105 years (0.14 v. 0.11 per 100 000; IRR 1.15, 95% CI 1.07–1.24). Hospital admissions for eating disorders increased during the pandemic for adolescents (8.82 v. 5.74 per 100 000; IRR 1.54, 95% CI 1.54–1.54) but decreased for all adult age groups, especially older adults aged 41–105 years (0.21 v. 0.30 per 100 000; IRR 0.72, 95% CI 0.64–0.80).

Interpretation: Emergency department visits for eating disorders increased among adolescents, young adults and older adults during the pandemic, but hospital admissions increased only for adolescents and decreased for all adult groups. Differential rates of acute care use for eating disorders by age have important implications for allocation of inpatient mental health resources.

Eating disorders and related symptomatology have increased globally among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.1–6 A cross-sectional analysis of 6 pediatric tertiary care hospitals in Canada reported that the incidence of newly diagnosed anorexia nervosa increased from 24.5 to 40.6 cases per month and hospital admissions among these affected patients increased from 7.5 to 20.0 per month during the pandemic.7 Our previous work showed an overall 66% increase in emergency department visits and a 37% increase in hospital admissions for eating disorders among children and adolescents in Ontario, Canada during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.3

Data on eating disorders in adult populations are limited but suggest a potential increase during the pandemic.8–10 The impact of the pandemic on adult eating disorders may be different than for youth experiencing unique stressors (e.g., academic concerns, social media, peer influence). Further, the health system response to eating disorders, capacity around treatment decisions and differing thresholds for admission by age may also contribute to potential differences.11 Nevertheless, eating disorders are prevalent among adult populations12,13 and carry a high mortality burden.14

Whether the COVID-19 pandemic is having a disparate impact on pediatric presentations for eating disorders compared with those of adults is not clear. Disparate service use is important to understand to guide funding, resource capacity and resource allocation as part of pandemic recovery planning. We sought to address evidence gaps by evaluating rates of acute care use (emergency department visits and hospital admissions) for eating disorders among adolescents and adults before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada.