Eating Disorder and Other Psychiatric Hospitalizations in New Zealand During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Objective An unprecedented rise in eating disorder presentations has been documented in several countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We explored this phenomenon by analyzing nationwide psychiatric admissions over 5 years, controlling for demographic variables. Methods We retrospectively...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The International journal of eating disorders 2024-09, Vol.57 (9), p.1890-1898
Main Authors: Hansen, Sara J., McLay, Jessica, Menkes, David B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
anorexia nervosa
COVID-19
Eating disorders
hospital admissions
pandemic
Pandemics
service demand
Social networks
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Summary:ABSTRACT Objective An unprecedented rise in eating disorder presentations has been documented in several countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We explored this phenomenon by analyzing nationwide psychiatric admissions over 5 years, controlling for demographic variables. Methods We retrospectively analyzed all hospitalizations in New Zealand with a primary psychiatric diagnosis from 2017 to 2021, using Poisson regression to calculate admission rates by diagnosis, before and during the pandemic. Using Fisher's exact test and Poisson modeling, national data were validated against a manually collected sample of eating disorder admissions. Results Eating disorder admissions rose significantly during the pandemic (RR 1.48, p 
ISSN:0276-3478
1098-108X
1098-108X
DOI:10.1002/eat.24237