By Robert Preidt
HealthDay reporter
TUESDAY, July 13, 2021 (HealthDay News) – The pandemic may have sparked another burgeoning health problem: New research suggests that the first 12 months of COVID. more than twice as many young people were hospitalized with eating disorders as normal -19 increase in the United States.
In the University of Michigan health system, there were 125 meal-related hospital admissions for patients ages 10-23 in the first 12 months of the pandemic, compared with an average of 56 over the same period in 2017 and 2019.
The highest monthly intake rates occurred between nine and twelve months after the pandemic began, and rates still rose when the study period ended in March 2021, according to the study in a prior publication in the journal Pediatrics.
“These results underscore how deeply the pandemic has hit young people who have experienced school closings, extracurricular activities and social isolation. Your whole world was turned upside down overnight, ”said study author Dr. Alana Otto, doctor for adolescent medicine at the CS Mott children’s hospital at the university. “In adolescents with eating disorders and those at risk for eating disorders, these significant disorders may have made symptoms worse or triggered.”
The numbers in the study may represent only a fraction of those with eating disorders affected by the pandemic, as only young people with severe eating disorders were included, the researchers found.
“Our study suggests that the negative effects of the pandemic on the mental health of adolescents with eating disorders could be particularly profound,” Otto said in a press release from the university. “But our data doesn’t capture the whole picture. Those could be really conservative estimates.”
Genetics, psychological factors, and social influences have been linked to eating disorders, and teenagers with low self-esteem or depression are particularly at risk.
Pandemic changes in the everyday life of teenagers – such as school closings and the cancellation of organized sports – can disrupt routines related to eating and exercise and trigger unhealthy eating behavior in people who are already at risk, according to Otto.
“A stressful event can cause a young person at risk for eating disorders to develop symptoms,” she said. “During the pandemic, a lack of routine, disturbances in everyday life and a feeling of loss of control are possible factors. When everything feels out of control, many teens feel like they are in control of themselves. “Eating.”
More information
The US National Institute of Mental Health has more on eating disorders.
SOURCE: Michigan Medicine-University of Michigan, news release, July 8, 2021
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