Eating Disorders Increased During Pandemic in Female Adolescents
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Jim Liebelt Jim Liebelt's Blog - Published Oct 05, 2023
The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MSN.
The biggest jump in Ontario (Canada) emergency room (ER) visits and hospitalizations for eating disorders during the first 30 months of the pandemic was seen in adolescents aged 10 to 17, according to a new study.
Using health data from two periods, before and during the pandemic, researchers calculated and compared the expected and observed rates of eating disorder-related hospital visits for various age groups.
They found that the rate of ER visits in the 10-to-17 age group was 7.38 per 100,000 in the latter period, up 121 percent over the expected rate of 3.33, based on pre-pandemic trends.
Hospital admissions for eating disorders also rose among adolescents by 54 percent but dropped for all adult age groups.
Lead author Dr. Alene Toulany, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, said 90 percent of the adolescents in the study period after the onset of COVID-19 were female.
