Anorexia

The initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic uncovered a rise in diagnoses of and hospitalizations for anorexia nervosa in both children and adolescents, per a cross-sectional study from Canada published in JAMA Network Open Pediatrics.

Inpatient stays for eating disorders increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to results of a cohort study in a research letter published in JAMA Network Open.

Substance use disorders appeared to increase excess mortality among patients with eating disorders, according to results of a nationwide register-based retrospective cohort study.

Failure to meet certain emotional developmental milestones between ages 3 to 7 years appeared to increase risk for broad anorexia nervosa, according to results of a cohort study published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Adults with anorexia nervosa had increased risk for relapse in the first months after acute care discharge, according to study results published in American Journal of Psychiatry.

Eating disorder behaviors appeared to change brain reward processing, according to results of a cross-sectional imaging study published in JAMA Network Open.

Myth: Severe eating disorders don’t affect health care providers, or HCPs.

Specific psychological treatments for adult outpatients with anorexia nervosa were linked to modest clinical course and quality of life improvements vs. treatment as usual, according to study results published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Clinicians should implement specific evidence-based treatments for various eating disorders, according to a presenter at the NEI Max Virtual Conference.

While gastrointestinal symptoms like anorexia and diarrhea are common in both patients with COVID-19 and those without, these symptoms plus a loss of smell, taste and fever were 99% specific for COVID-19, according to a study published in Gastroenterology.