Eating disorder admissions increased after start of pandemic
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Inpatient and outpatient volume increased for pediatric patients with an eating disorder following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Sydney M. Hartman-Munick, MD, a physician in the division of adolescent medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center, told Healio that the inspiration for the study came during her fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital last year, when she and her colleagues began seeing a “flood of patients needing evaluation for eating disorders.”
“We were kind of looking at each other thinking, ‘This seems like these numbers are really increasing,’ but, of course, we couldn't necessarily prove it,” Hartman-Munick said. “And then we took a cursory look at our own numbers and thought, ‘These numbers really are going up. It could be really interesting to see if it's true in other places, as well.’”
Hartman-Munick and colleagues examined data from 14 U.S. medical centers, as well as one private eating disorder program. After an initial decline in admissions at the start of the pandemic lockdowns, the sites reported a significant increase in admissions of 7.2% per month through April 2021, followed by a 3.6% decrease per month through the following December.
“I was a little bit surprised to see that after the first year of the pandemic, numbers started to decline, because [at the time] it still felt like we were seeing so many patients,” Hartman-Munick said. “But I think less surprising is that even though that decline started to happen, we were not seeing numbers decline back to sort of pre-pandemic baselines by any means.”
Hartman-Munick added that she was “initially surprised” at the first drop in outpatient assessments after the onset of the pandemic.
“But then when we thought about it a little bit more, it made a ton of sense, because most clinics sort of closed for a period of time to nonurgent concerns,” Hartman-Munick said. “Primary care doctors offices weren't seeing these patients, [and] we weren't seeing these patients for a short period of time before we figured out how to safely do so and the start of the pandemic.”
She said her hope for the study is that it “raises the alarm” on how little support medical centers have regarding eating disorder treatment.
“We already didn't have enough supports for these patients with respect to treatment, even before the pandemic,” Hartman-Munick said. “And now that we've seen higher numbers, that support is even less available, especially to patients who may be more marginalized, like patients with Medicaid or an LGBTQ plus population, or other folks who have been traditionally marginalized and may not have eating disorders as easily recognized.”
She said the study illustrates the need in medical settings to “prevent eating disorders before they even start.”
“We definitely have not cracked the code yet on how to prevent the development of eating disorders, so I think future study in eating disorder prevention strategies is crucial,” Hartman-Munick said. “International events like this can be really scary and be associated with major changes in mental health for teens and young adults.”
References:
Hartman-Munick SM, et al. JAMA Pediatr. 2022;doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4346.