Hospitalizations of Youth With Eating Disorders Rose During Pandemic, Report Shows

More than 18 months since COVID-19 first led to lockdowns across the United States, data are beginning to emerge that reveal the harmful effects of the pandemic on some people with eating disorders. Areport appearing in the October issue ofPediatrics describes how the number of children and adolescents admitted for eating disorders at a children ’s hospital in Michigan rose steadily during the first 12 months of the pandemic.“An increase in severely ill adolescents with [eating disorders] during COVID-19 is likely to present challenges for patients, their families, and their providers because demand for treatment (access to which is already limited by pandemic precautions, as well as a lack of providers predating the pandemic) is likely to increase, perhaps dramatically,” wrote Alana K. Otto, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Michigan and colleagues.Otto and colleagues performed a chart review of youth aged 10 to 23 years admitted to C.S. Mott Children ’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., between March 1, 2017, and March 31, 2021, for medical complications of restrictive eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, atypical anorexia nervosa, and avoidant or restrictive food intake disorder.The researchers compared data on youth admitted to the hospital from March 2017 through March 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) with data on youth admitted to the hospital from April 2020 through March 2021 (during the COVID-19 pandemic).There were 297 admissions of youth for medica...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: adolescents anorexia C.S. Mott Children ’s Hospital COVID-19 eating disorders hospital admissions pandemic pediatrics restrictive eating disorders Source Type: research