Eating disorders began to spike among young people shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Experts believe the increase occurred due to disruptions in daily living, emotional distress and more time spent on social media – which research has shown can lead to lower self-esteem and negative body image.
One peer-reviewed study indicates that eating disorder diagnoses increased 15% in 2020 among people under 30 compared to previous years. Other studies have suggested that patients who already had an eating disorder diagnosis got worse during the pandemic. The researchers reported an increase in eating disorder symptoms along with anxiety and depression.
Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and other specified feeding and eating disorders such as atypical anorexia. The peak age of onset is 15-25 years old, but individuals can develop eating disorders at any age.
