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. 2021 Jul 27;220(5):1-3.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.2021.105. Online ahead of print.

Incidence and outcomes of eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic

Maxime Taquet  1 , John R Geddes  1 , Sierra Luciano  2 , Paul J Harrison  1
Affiliations

Incidence and outcomes of eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic

Maxime Taquet et al. Br J Psychiatry. .

Abstract

There are concerns that eating disorders have become commoner during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Using the electronic health records of 5.2 million people aged under 30, mostly in the USA, we show that the diagnostic incidence was 15.3% higher in 2020 overall compared with previous years (relative risk 1.15, 95% CI 1.12-1.19). The relative risk increased steadily from March 2020 onwards, exceeding 1.5 by the end of the year. The increase occurred solely in females, and primarily related to teenagers and anorexia nervosa. A higher proportion of patients with eating disorders in 2020 had suicidal ideation (hazard ratio HR = 1.30, 1.16-1.47) or attempted suicide (HR = 1.69, 1.21-2.35).

Keywords: COVID-19; anorexia nervosa; eating disorders; eating disorders NOS; epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest

M.T. and P.J.H. were granted unrestricted access to the TriNetX Analytics network for the purpose of research relevant to psychiatry and with no constraints on the analyses performed nor the decision to publish. S.L. is an employee of TriNetX. J.R.G., a member of the Editorial Board, played no part in the review or decision-making process of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Incidence of eating disorders during vs. before the COVID-19 pandemic
A: Incidence of eating disorders in 2-monthly periods during the pandemic (January 20, 2020 to January 19, 2021) compared to previous years (January 20, 2017-2019 to January 19, 2018-2020). The relative risks (RR) and their 95% confidence intervals are provided for each 2-monthly period during the pandemic compared to the same period in 2019. B: Incidence stratified by sex. C: Incidence stratified by age group. D: Incidence stratified by eating disorder subtype. RR in each stratum compared to the corresponding stratum in the previous year. RR>1 indicates a risk that is higher during the pandemic. AN=Anorexia Nervosa, BN=Bulimia nervosa, EDNOS=Eating disorder not otherwise specified.
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