More Teens with Eating Disorders Wound up in ER During Pandemic

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Emergency rooms across the country have seen a surge in the number of teenage girls dealing with eating and other disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress, during the pandemic, a new government report shows.

Mental health experts suspect the pandemic left many young people feeling isolated and lonely, said Emily Pluhar, a pediatric psychologist at Boston Children's Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School.

"You take a very vulnerable group and put on a global pandemic," she told The New York Times. "The eating disorders are out of control."

In the study, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the proportion of eating disorder visits doubled among teenage girls, set off by pandemic-related risk factors, such as the "lack of structure in daily routine, emotional distress and changes in food availability."

There was also an increase seen in tic disorders among teen girls, the report found.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/b-2-21-more-teens-with-eating-disorders-wound-up-in-er-during-pandemic-2656753316.html