‘Incredibly high’ proportion of children exhibit disordered eating behaviors
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 32 studies found that 22% of children and adolescents exhibit disordered eating, according to findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Recent studies have shown that eating disorder admissions for pediatric patients increased at points in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Because some children and adolescents with eating disorders may hide the core symptoms of the illness and delay seeking specialized care due to feelings of shame or stigmatization, it is reasonable to consider that eating disorders are underdiagnosed and undertreated,” the authors of the new study wrote.
The authors also clarified the differences between eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors.
“Although these symptoms predict outcomes related to eating disorders and obesity in adolescents 5 years later, it is important to distinguish disordered eating from eating disorders,” they wrote. “The term disordered eating is often used to describe and identify some of the different eating behaviors that do not necessarily meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder and, therefore, cannot be classified as eating disorders per se.”
The authors examined eligible studies of children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years that used the Sick, Control, One, Fat, Food, which consists of five yes-or-no questions regarding eating behaviors and attitude toward food and weight loss. The 32 studies included 63,181 participants from 16 countries.
According to the review, the overall proportion of children and adolescents with disordered eating was 22.36% (95% CI, 18.84%-26.09%). Additionally, the proportion was more elevated among girls, (30.03%; 95% CI, 25.61%-34.65%) than boys (16.98%; 95% CI, 13.46%-20.81%).
“These high figures are concerning from a public health perspective and highlight the need to implement strategies for preventing eating disorders,” they wrote.