Outbreak of anorexia nervosa admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had broad social implications for children around the world. While the initial government response has focused on public health strategies to contain the spread of the virus and the creation of sufficient capacity within hospitals to manage patients with acute medical complications, it was recognised that the social, economic and mental health consequences of COVID-19 would follow. In Western Australia (WA), we have had relatively few COVID-19 cases in the general population and even fewer in children. Similar to paediatric hospitals internationally,1 our emergency department presentations and overall hospital admissions have fallen significantly in 2020 (figure 1). However, since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, we have observed a 104% increase (95% CI +56% to +166%, p<0.001) in children with anorexia nervosa (AN) requiring …