The impact of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents with eating disorders: a follow-up study from Türkiye.

BACKGROUND: At the onset of the pandemic, we conducted a study on adolescents with eating disorders (EDs) and found no deterioration in ED symptoms. The objective of this subsequent study was to conduct a follow-up evaluation of the same cohort and investigate the consequences of the prolonged pandemic. METHODS: This longitudinal study was conducted one year after the first study between May 2021 and June 2021 with 37 adolescents aged 12-18 years (pre-existing EDs). The reassessment included an evaluation of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, the impact of pandemic-related restrictions on ED behaviors, well-being, and quality of life. All the participants underwent a re-administration of the ED examination questionnaire (EDE-Q), Beck Depression Inventory, the State Anxiety Inventory for Children, and the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed in the EDE-Q scores or the ED examination questionnaire scores between the initial (T1) and subsequent (T2) study. The ED-related quality of life was seen to have slightly improved in the later stage. While depression (T1: 18, T2: 15, p=0.883) and obsession scores (T1: 11, T2: 14, p: 0.536) showed no disparity between the studies, anxiety scores (T1: 38, T2: 43, p:0.011) exhibited a significant increase. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with the early phase, no exacerbation of ED symptoms in adolescents was observed during the later stages of the pandemic. Close clinical monitoring during the pandemic might have been protective against the deteriorating effects of the pandemic. During social isolation, it is important to monitor adolescents with EDs continously for depression and anxiety.

Suicidal ideation and attempts among adolescents from a tertiary hospital in Turkey: A comparative study of pre and postpandemic periods.

AIM: This study aims to compare changes in rates of suicidal ideation (SI) and attempts (SA) among adolescents during pre, mid and later periods of the pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study included adolescents who presented to the adolescent medicine clinic in Turkey between March-May 2019 (prepandemic = T0), March-May 2021(mid period of the pandemic = T1) and March-May 2022 (late period year of the pandemic = T2). SI and SA data were assessed through the electronic hospital records of the "HEEADSSS" inventory. RESULTS: The charts of 2113 adolescents were evaluated. The rates of both SI (p = .015) and SA (p = .026) were determined to be higher during the pandemic (T1+T2) compared to the pre-pandemic period, with a 1.4-fold increase in SI and a 1.5-fold increase in SA. The rates of SI did not differ according to gender, (p = .090). In contrast, SA rate was significantly higher in females (7.3%) than males (3.6%) (p = .001). CONCLUSION: This study reveals an increase in SI and SA among adolescents during the first 2 years of the pandemic. In challenging times, health professionals should prioritize the identification and treatment of mental health issues, including screening for depression and suicide risk.

Retrospective Evaluation of Poisoning Cases Followed Up in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit-A 12-Year Experience in a Single Center.

OBJECTIVES: Poisonings constitute an important part of preventable morbidity and mortality in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and hospitalizations. However, information on poisoning requiring intensive care is limited. This study aimed epidemiological evaluation of poisoning cases treated in the PICU in a single center. METHODS: The records of 504 patients admitted to the PICU due to acute poisoning between 2010 and 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Data were evaluated using descriptive methods and the χ 2 test, and statistical differences with P value <0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: The age range of the patients ranged from 1 month to 216 months (18 years), and the rate of girls was 53.2% (n = 268), whereas the rate of boys was 46.8% (n = 236). The mean age was 4.4 ± 4.3 years for boys, 6.7 ± 5.8 years for girls, and 5.6 ± 5.3 years for all patients. It was determined that 79.6% of the cases were poisoned by accident and 20.4% by suicide. A total of 76.7% of the patients who were poisoned for suicide were girls and 23.3% were boys. The mean age of these patients was 14.3 ± 3.0 years. On the other hand, 47.1% of the children who were accidentally poisoned were girls and 52.9% were boys, and the mean age of these children was 3.4 ± 2.9 years. Although 79.9% of poisonings occurred at home, the causative agent was oral poisoning in 97.4% of the cases. Approximately two thirds (69.2%) of the cases were drug-related, whereas 30.8% were related to nondrug substances. In drug-related poisonings, central nervous system drugs (35.8%) were the most common agent, followed by analgesic/antipyretic (20.9%) agents, whereas among the nonpharmaceutical factors, insecticides (agricultural pesticides, rat poison, pesticides, etc) were the most common, followed by poisonous herbs (beetleweed, widow's weed, cannabis, etc). The mean admission time of the patients to the hospital was 6.3 ± 8.4 hours, and the mean length of stay in the intensive care unit was 1.6 ± 1.3 days. In the 12 years of our study, only 3 patients died due to poisoning, and our mortality rate was 0.5%. Four patients (0.7%) were referred to the Alcohol and Drug Addicts Treatment and Research Center. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, in which we retrospectively analyzed the profiles of poisoning cases hospitalized in the PICU for 12 years, we determined that poisonous weeds were the major factor in accidental poisonings, and suicidal poisonings were above the expected rates even at the young age group such as 8-12 years old. These results show the importance of determining the poisoning profile of the health care service area.

Eating disorder visits increase among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIM: The study aimed to assess changes in adolescent visits due to eating disorders (EDs) during the pandemic. METHOD: A retrospective evaluation of adolescents diagnosed with an ED during two periods: June 2019-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and June 2021-February 2022 (during the pandemic) at an adolescent medicine clinic in Tukey was conducted. The number of patients diagnosed with an ED between these dates was compared with the number of overall attended outpatient appointments. Baseline data for patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and the requirement of hospitalization for all cases were compared. RESULTS: Of the 3708 visits in the pre-pandemic period 46 (1.2%) were diagnosed with an ED. This was 69 (2.2%) of 3149 visits during the pandemic which was statistically significant (p = 0.003). The percentage of males to females changed from 2.2% to 11.6% (p = 0.065). Distribution of the type of ED did not change (p = 0.280), although the percentage of atypical AN increased from 6.5% to 17.4%. Mean age, BMI, calorie intake and hospital admissions did not significantly change. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the increase in adolescent EDs during COVID-19. Particular attention should be given to males and Atypical AN cases.