According to a recent study, during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, there was a sharp increase in the number of adolescents and young people seeking treatment for eating disorders in American hospitals. The analysis of monthly cases, which took place at 14 pediatric and children’s hospitals throughout the US between January 2018 and December 2021 and had treatment programmers, was published on Monday in JAMA Pediatrics according to which eating disorders grew during covid.
Coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has developed into a challenging public health problem since the year 2020 began. During the early waves of the pandemic, most governments issued varying degrees of “shelter-in-place” orders in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. The best viral controls were believed to be social isolation and quarantine (WHO, 2020). There is evidence, though, that going into lockdown mode might be detrimental to one’s mental health (Brooks et al., 2020). It was agreed that during the first wave of the pandemic and the first round of lockdowns, handling the study on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health would need to take precedence.
There is evidence that the pandemic has negatively affected people’s psychological suffering both in the general population and COVID-19 patients during the lockdown period in the spring/summer of 2020. Particularly, longitudinal data show that in the first semester of the epidemic, mental health (i.e., anxiety, melancholy, and overall discomfort) had improved compared to the time before the pandemic. The short-term effects of COVID-19 were severe in all impacted nations, notably for women, young adults, those from lower socioeconomic statuses, and healthcare professionals. However, as a result of the relaxation of social constraints following lockdown, mental health issues gradually diminished but did not reach the same level as those that existed before to the COVID-19 epidemic.
U.S. hospitals experienced an alarming spike in the number of adolescents and young adults seeking care for eating disorders during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic lockdowns, according to a new study.
The study, which was published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, analyzed monthly cases between January 2018 and December 2021 at 14 pediatric and children’s hospitals with treatment programs in all regions of the country.
It reported a “significant COVID-19 pandemic-related increase in both inpatient and outpatient” treatment for anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and other afflictions during the first two years of the pandemic.
Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and other disorders saw a significant increase in both inpatient and outpatient care during the first two years of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the research. A team of 23 public health experts conducted the study, which found that “given the limited [eating disorder] care available before to the pandemic, the increased post-pandemic demand will certainly exceed current resources.”
The 14 facilities admitted 81 teenagers and young adults for inpatient eating disorder treatments between January 2018 and February 2020, respectively. The number of admissions rose to 163 in December 2020, 208 in April 2021, and an average of 181 per month for the remaining months of the prior year.
