The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health response on people with eating disorder symptomatology: an Australian study

Miskovic-Wheatley, Jane; Koreshe, Eyza; Kim, Marcellinus; Simeone, Rachel; Maguire, Sarah

doi:10.1186/s40337-021-00527-0

Journal of Eating Disorders

Table 2 Changes in eating disorder symptoms by diagnostic status, presence of co-occurring conditions, engagement in treatment and residing in the state of Victoria during the pandemic

From: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health response on people with eating disorder symptomatology: an Australian study

	Eating disorder diagnosis				Co-occurring condition				Receiving eating disorder treatment				Victorian resident
	Diagnosis	No diagnosis	χ² (p)	RR (95%CI)	Co-occurring condition	No co-occurring condition	χ² (p)	RR (95%CI)	Receiving treatment	Not receiving treatment	χ² (p)	RR (95%CI)	Yes	No	χ² (p)	RR (95%CI)
Body image concern
Increased	594	923	0.20 (.655)	0.96 (0.805, 1,145)	1206	311	7.13 (.008)	1.11 (1.018, 1.219)	728	789	0.06 (.808)	1.02 (0.874, 1.189)	711	806	3.64 (.056)	1.18 (0.987, 1.404)
Not increased	84	122			147	59			97	109			82	124
Food restriction/ dieting
Increased	525	751	6.64 (.010)	1.20 (1.041, 1.389)	1019	257	5.18 (.023)	1.07 (1.006, 1.135)	627	649	3.11 (.078)	1.11 (0.986, 1.248)	615	661	9.35 (.002)	1.21 (1.066, 1.375)
Not increased	153	294			334	113			198	249			178	269
Binge/over-eating
Increased	403	737	22.58 (< .001)	0.75 (0.667, 0.842)	894	246	0.22 (.882)	1.00 (0.946, 1.049)	497	643	24.79 (< .001)	0.78 (0.703, 0.854)	535	605	1.11 (.292)	1.06 (0.952, 1.184)
Not increased	275	308			459	124			328	255			258	325
Self-induced vomiting
Increased	237	193	59.68 (< .001)	1.62 (1.442, 1.811)	341	89	0.21 (.651)	1.01 (0.958, 1.072)	254	176	28.74 (< .001)	1.34 (1.211, 1.478)	181	249	3.57 (.059)	0.889 (0.785, 1.008)
Not increased	441	852			1012	281			571	722			612	681
Driven/over exercise
Increased	347	476	5.22 (.022)	1.15 (1.020, 1.289)	654	169	0.83 (.364)	1.02 (0.974, 1.075)	427	396	10.11 (.001)	1.17 (1.063, 1.295)	395	428	2.46 (.117)	1.09 (0.980, 1.202)
Not increased	331	569			699	201			398	502			398	502
Laxative and/or pill misuse
Increased	131	109	27.11 (< .001)	1.48 (1.295, 1.691)	200	40	3.82 (.051)	1.07 (1.007, 1.141)	148	92	21.23 (< .001)	1.35 (1.205, 1.514)	100	140	2.13 (.144)	0.89 (0.760, 1.046)
Not increased	547	936			1153	330			677	806			693	790
Diet pill misuse^a
Increased	4	1	3.47 (.062)	2.04 (1.310, 3.173)	5	0	1.37 (.242)	1.27 (1.243, 1.306)	4	1	2.07 (.150)	1.67 (1.077, 2.602)	2	3	0.07 (.787)	0.87 (0.297, 2.545)
Not increased	674	1044			1348	370			821	897			791	927

Bold indicates statistical significance
n = sample size; χ² = Chi-square Statistic; p = p-value significant at p < .05; CI = Confidence Interval; RR = Relative Risk; t = t-statistic; df = degrees of freedom ^@aNumber of participants reporting diet pill misuse as a symptom was very low so analysis unreliable and no interpretation drawn

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ISSN: 2050-2974

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