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Transitions for youth and young adults with eating disorders and/or other mental health conditions: a Canadian guideline

G. Dimitropoulos, Marian Nicula, Andrea Krishnapillai, Amelia Austin, Manya Singh, Jayden Lee, C. Webb, Sela Scott et al.

Journal of Eating Disorders, 2025

86 participants · 5 citations

Abstract

Eating disorders (EDs) are severe mental illnesses with high rates of mortality, morbidity, and reduced quality of life. Their onset occurs during adolescence and early adulthood, coinciding with the critical transition from pediatric to adult care. To address the lack of guidelines to support ED transitions in Canada, this study developed evidence-based guideline recommendations. Scoping review methodology was employed using comprehensive searches across seven databases, supplemented by forward and backward citation chaining to identify records on youth and young adults (YYAs) (16–25 years) with EDs and/or mental health conditions transitioning from pediatric to adult care. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach was used to evaluate the quality of the evidence for applicable studies. Using a modified Delphi method, the evidence was reviewed by a guideline development panel and consensus was achieved in a single round of voting. After de-duplication, 14,350 records from all sources were screened, with 1817 studies undergoing full-text review. A total of 419 studies were included. Of these, 199 were primary research studies which fell under one or more of the following categories: descriptive (n = 86), qualitative (n = 75), predictors (n = 48), transition interventions (n = 21), measurement tools (n = 8), and key outcomes (n = 3). The certainty of the evidence for specific interventions and tools was generally low. The panel issued…

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