Eating disorders have jumped during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study.
Researchers looked at the numbers of inpatient admissions and outpatient visits for eating disorders such as bulimia and binge eating disorder before the pandemic started at 14 hospital-based sites that are part of the National Eating Disorder Quality Improvement Collaborative, and one additional nonhospital-based site. They compared the numbers to admissions and visits that came after the pandemic started in early 2020.
Inpatient admissions for disorders jumped starting in mid-2020 and soared in 2021, researchers found.
The aggregate total admissions across the sites in January 2018 was 81. That number was 109 in February 2020, before the pandemic started. It jumped to 163 in December 2020 and peaked at 208 in April 2021….