UMass Chan finds dramatic uptick in adolescent eating disorder care during pandemic
Photo | Courtesy of UMass Chan Medical School
Dr. Sydney M. Hartman-Munick
Young people with eating disorders seeking and receiving inpatient and outpatient care increased dramatically over the course of the pandemic, according to a study by Dr. Sydney Hartman-Munick, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester.
The study was published on Nov. 7 in JAMA Pediatrics, the school said in a Tuesday announcement.
Using an observational case series design, researchers found before the pandemic was declared, inpatient admissions related to eating disorders increased by 0.7% per month across the sites they looked at. After the pandemic was declared, inpatient admissions increased 7.2% per month through April 2021. They then decreased by 3.6% through December 2021.
In turn, outpatient eating disorder assessments were reportedly stable across sites prior to the pandemic, but increased 8.1% per month between May 2020 and April 2021, before then decreasing 1.5% per month through December 2021.
“The pandemic has been a universally traumatizing event for pretty much everybody, and we know that in the setting of trauma, eating disorders tend to be pretty common,” Hartman-Munick said in a written statement.
Hartman-Murnick is working on building an outpatient eating disorder program, according to UMass Chan.
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