Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations for Eating Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Recent studies have reported increasing eating disorder incidence and severity following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In a diverse cohort of pediatric hospitals, we examined trends in the volume of emergency visits and inpatient admissions for eating disorders before and during the pandemic. METHODS We examined monthly trends in volume of patients with eating disorders (identified by principal International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, diagnosis codes) across 38 hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information System pre– (January 2018–March 2020) and post–COVID-19 onset (April 2020–June 2022). Using interrupted time series analysis, we examined the pre- and post monthly trends in eating disorder emergency and inpatient volume. RESULTS Before the pandemic, eating disorder emergency visit volume was increasing by 1.50 visits per month (P = .006), whereas in the first year postonset, visits increased by 12.9 per month (P < .001), followed by a 6.3 per month decrease in the second year postonset (P < .001). Pre–COVID-19, eating disorder inpatient volume was increasing by 1.70 admissions per month (P = .01). In the first year postonset, inpatient volume increased by 11.9 per month (P < .001), followed by a 7.6 per month decrease in the second year postonset (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS The volume of patients seeking emergency and inpatient eating disorder care at pediatric hospitals has increased dramatically since the pandemic onset and has not returned to prepandemic levels despite a decline in the second year postonset, with important implications for hospital capacity.