Eating disorders and COVID-19 - different or just more?

COVID-19 saw an increase in child mental health presentations internationally. Clinicians analogised the exponential increase in anorexia nervosa to a ‘tsunami’ or ‘outbreak’, raising parallel concerns regarding medical and psychological risks (Marsh in The Guardian, 2021; Leask in NZ Herald, 2021; Monteleone et al. in Eat Weight Disord 26(8):2443–2452, 2021) . It is unclear whether Ireland emulated this picture of increased referrals with increased medical compromise. This paper examines both rates and clinical profiles of child eating disorder presentations in the Republic of Ireland (ROI), across different clinical settings. Following ethical approval, retrospective chart reviews were conducted in a community eating disorder service and in two paediatric hospital settings. The time frame of the different studies ranged from January 2016 to December 2022. Community eating disorder services saw significantly higher referral rates post COVID-19 (3.78/month vs. 2.31/month, p = 0.02), with a shorter duration of illness (4.8 months vs. 7.4 months, p = 0.001), but no significant difference in ideal body weight