New study shows pandemic contributed to eating disorders in youth

A new study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on young Canadians developing an eating disorders. 

A Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP) study identified the pandemic as a contributing factor to developing anorexia nervosa — an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and behaviours that work towards thinness — in almost 50 per cent of children and adolescents in the study. 

The study, which monitored cases of first-time hospitalizations for anorexia nervosa from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2021, found that most patients hospitalized for the first time with an eating disorder diagnosis were female and between the ages of 14 to 17. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has unmasked a global eating disorder public health crisis resulting in considerable health, economic, financial and social consequences,” said Dr. Debra Katzman, one of the study’s principal investigators.

“This is a wake-up call for making eating disorders a priority,” she added.

The two-year study will continue to collect data across Canada until August 2023.