Adolescent ER visits in Ontario for eating disorders saw big jump during pandemic: study
CTV
The biggest jump in Ontario emergency room visits and hospitalizations for eating disorders during the first 30 months of the pandemic was seen in adolescents aged 10 to 17, according to a new study.
The biggest jump in Ontario emergency room visits and hospitalizations for eating disorders during the first 30 months of the pandemic was seen in adolescents aged 10 to 17, according to a new study.
Using provincial health data from two periods -- January 2017 to February 2020 and March 2020 to August 2022 -- researchers calculated and compared the expected and observed rates of eating disorder-related hospital visits for various age groups.
They found that the rate of ER visits in the 10-to-17 age group was 7.38 per 100,000 in the latter period, up 121 per cent over the expected rate of 3.33, based on pre-pandemic trends.
Hospital admissions for eating disorders also rose among adolescents, by 54 per cent, but dropped for all adult age groups.
The study, published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, also showed that ER visits for eating disorders were 13 per cent higher than expected among young adults between the ages of 18 and 26.
Among those aged 27 to 40, the ER visits were near the rate expected. But they increased by 15 per cent for the oldest age group -- those between 41 and 105.
Lead author Dr. Alene Toulany, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, said 90 per cent of the adolescents in the study period after the onset of COVID-19 were female.
