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UMass Chan finds dramatic uptick in adolescent eating disorder care during pandemic

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.

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Hartman-Murnick is working on building an outpatient eating disorder program, according to UMass Chan.
 

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