healthmedicinet

Additional effect of Covid on teen girls: eating disorders and self-harm rise 42% since pandemic began, study shows

Eating disorders and self-harm among teen girls have skyrocketed over the past three years, new research shows.

The number of 13- to 16-year-olds with conditions such as bulimia and anorexia is now 42 percent higher than in March 2020, with even higher rates in affluent neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, self-injury rates also rose by a third (32 percent) over the same period, according to analysis of GP data.

Experts believe that factors such as social isolation, fear of changing routines, educational disruption and unhealthy influences from social media are likely to blame.

Researchers from the University of Manchester, Keele University, University of Exeter and the McPin Foundation, a mental health research charity, looked at anonymised GP medical records of more than nine million patients from 1,881 GP practices in the UK.

Experts believe factors such as social isolation, fear of changing routines, educational disruption and unhealthy social media influences are likely to blame

Since the pandemic hit, they found eating disorder rates were 42 percent higher than expected for teenage girls ages 13-16, and 32 percent higher for girls ages 17-19.

According to the findings published in the journal Lancet Child And Adolescent Health, there was no comparable increase in boys.

Instances of self-harm were 38 percent higher than expected in girls ages 13 to 16, while no increase was seen in boys or girls of other ages.

However, the charity Beat said it had seen a ‘significant increase’ in contacts from young men.

The charity also expressed concern over unequal access to care for patients, with children from wealthier backgrounds more likely to be diagnosed.

Eating disorder diagnoses have historically been more common in girls from affluent backgrounds, with the gap widening after Covid.

Girls in wealthy communities have seen a 52 percent higher rate compared to 22 percent from poorer backgrounds.

Dr. Pearl Mok, from the University of Manchester and lead author, said the true numbers would probably be even higher, with many episodes going unreported.

He said: ‘The reasons for the increase in eating disorder diagnoses and self-harm episodes among teenage girls during the pandemic are likely complex and may be due to a combination of issues such as social isolation, anxiety due to changing routines, educational disruption , unhealthy influences of social media and increased clinical awareness.

“Our study is large, but episodes of self-harm that were not treated by health services were not captured in our data, so the rise in self-harm may be even greater than we observed.”

Tom Quinn, from the eating disorder charity Beat, said: ‘These numbers are shocking but unfortunately not surprising; during the height of the pandemic, we saw demand for our helpline services increase by 300 percent and it still remains high.

?We also know that the NHS is treating more children and young people than ever before, with healthcare professionals under enormous pressure.

“It is surprising that there has not been an increase in diagnoses in young men as we have seen a significant increase in contact and the latest NHS data shows that there is more demand in both young men and women.”