A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Child and Adolescent Healthcare Utilization for Eating Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Conduct a meta-analysis documenting healthcare service utilization rates for pediatric (<19 years) eating disorders (EDs) during compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHOD
PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science Core Collection were search for studies published up to May 19, 2023. Studies with pediatric visits to primary care, inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department for EDs before and during the pandemic were included. This preregistered review (PROSPERO CRD42023413392) reported using PRISMA guidelines. Data were analyzed with random-effects meta-analyses.
RESULTS
52 studies reporting >148,000 child and adolescent eating disorder-related visits to >300 health settings across 15 countries were included (mean age 12.7 [SD 4.1] years; 87% girls). There was strong evidence of an increase in healthcare utilization for EDs during the pandemic (rate ratio [RR] 1.54, 95%CI 1.38-1.71). Moderator analysis revealed larger rate increases among girls (RR 1.48, 95%CI 1.28-1.71) compared to boys (RR 1.24, 95%CI 1.06-1.45) and adolescents (≥12 to 19 years) (RR 1.53, 95%CI 1.29-1.81) compared to children (RR 0.87, 95%CI 0.53-1.43). Moderator analysis demonstrated strong evidence of increased utilization of emergency department (RR 1.70, 95%CI 1.48-1.97), inpatient (RR 1.56, 95%CI 1.33-1.84), and outpatient services (RR 1.62, 95%CI 1.35-1.95), as well as strong evidence of increased rates of anorexia nervosa (RR 1.48, 95%CI 1.24-1.75).
CONCLUSION
Healthcare…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid.
Read the paper
Related studies
- The Matrisome: In Silico Definition and In Vivo Characterization by Proteomics of Normal and Tumor Extracellular Matrices
- The Escherichia coli MG1655 in silico metabolic genotype: Its definition, characteristics, and capabilities
- In silico pharmacology for drug discovery: methods for virtual ligand screening and profiling
- In silico prediction of splice-altering single nucleotide variants in the human genome
- In silico clinical trials: how computer simulation will transform the biomedical industry
- In silico optimization of a guava antimicrobial peptide enables combinatorial exploration for peptide design
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.