Admissions for eating disorders and other mental health diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveTo examine how hospital admissions for mental health and eating disorders changed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and with the return to fully in-person school with increased vaccine availability.MethodsData from a tertiary care children’s hospital were examined for admissions to the hospital from March 2018 through March 2022, including children 6-20 years old admitted with ICD-10 codes for mental health and eating disorders. Interrupted time series (ITS) analyses were used to examine for changes at specific time points.ResultsIn the time between March 2018 through March 2022, 851 admissions met inclusion criteria for eating disorders and 1,505 admissions for other mental health diagnoses. In the first year of the pandemic, the ITS analysis showed a significant increase in admissions per month for eating disorders with a slope of 1.2 (95% CI: 0.2, 2.2) and for other mental health diagnoses, a slope of 1.9 (95% CI: 1.1, 2.7). In a longer-term ITS analysis, return to fully in-person school was associated with a subsequent decrease in admissions over time at -1.0 per month (95% CI: - 2.1, 0.1). For other mental health diagnoses, return to school was associated with an initial drop and then an increase in admissions over time, slope of 2.2 (95% CI: -0.5, 3.8).ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic had an initial impact on admissions for eating disorders and other mental health that attenuated over time. We note differences in the association of return to school on eating disorders compared with other mental health diagnoses.