Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;70(1):42-47.
doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.09.025. Epub 2021 Oct 22.

Acute Care Visits for Eating Disorders Among Children and Adolescents After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alène Toulany  1 , Paul Kurdyak  2 , Astrid Guttmann  3 , Thérèse A Stukel  4 , Longdi Fu  5 , Rachel Strauss  5 , Lisa Fiksenbaum  6 , Natasha R Saunders  3
Affiliations

Acute Care Visits for Eating Disorders Among Children and Adolescents After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alène Toulany et al. J Adolesc Health. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: Anecdotal reports suggest a significant increase in acute presentations of eating disorders among children and adolescents. Our objective was to compare the rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for pediatric eating disorders before and during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Using linked health administrative databases, we conducted a population-based repeated cross-sectional study of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for eating disorders among all children and adolescents aged 3-17 years, residing in Ontario, Canada. We defined the pre-COVID period from January 1, 2017, to February 29, 2020, and the post-COVID period from March 1, 2020, to December 26, 2020. Poisson generalized estimating equations were used to model 3-year pre-COVID trends to predict expected post-COVID trends and estimate the relative change from expected rates.

Results: In our population of almost 2.5 million children and adolescents, acute care visits for eating disorders increased immediately after the onset of the pandemic, reaching a 4-week peak annualized rate of 34.6 (emergency department visits) and 43.2 per 100,000 population (hospitalizations) in October 2020. Overall, we observed a 66% (adjusted relative rate: 1.66, 95% confidence interval: 1.41-1.96) and 37% (adjusted relative rate: 1.37, 95% confidence interval: 1.25-1.50) increase in risk for emergency department visit and hospitalization, respectively.

Conclusions: Acute care visits for pediatric eating disorders increased significantly in Ontario after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic and remained well above expected levels during the first 10 months of the pandemic. Further research is needed to understand the social and neurobiological mechanisms underlying the observed changes in health system utilization.

Keywords: Acute care; Eating disorders; Epidemiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly observed and expected rates of emergency department (ED) visits for eating disorders among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, March to December 2020 (per 100,000 population).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Monthly observed and expected rates of hospitalizations for eating disorders among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, March to December 2020 (per 100,000 population).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Monthly observed and expected rates of emergency department (ED) visits for eating disorders among children and adolescents by age during the COVID-19 pandemic, March to December 2020 (per 100,000 population).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Monthly observed and expected rates of hospitalizations for eating disorders among children and adolescents by age during the COVID-19 pandemic, March to December 2020 (per 100,000 population).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Haripersad Y.V., Kannegiesser-Bailey M., Morton K., et al. Outbreak of anorexia nervosa admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Arch Dis Child. 2021;106:e15. - PubMed
    1. Martinson J. In the shadow of a pandemic, demand soars for eating disorder treatment 2020. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/anorexia-shadow-pandemic... Available at:
    1. Dalle Grave R. Coronavirus disease 2019 and eating disorders psychology Today2020 updated March 21. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/eating-disorders-the-facts/20200...
    1. Fernández-Aranda F., Casas M., Claes L., et al. COVID-19 and implications for eating disorders. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2020;28:239–245. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weissman R.S., Bauer S., Thomas J.J. Access to evidence-based care for eating disorders during the COVID-19 crisis. Int J Eat Disord. 2020;53:369–376. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types