What do we know about the epidemiology of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder in children and adolescents? A systematic review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) was a new diagnosis in DSM-5. This systematic review explores what is known to date about the epidemiology of ARFID in children and adolescents. METHOD: Embase, Medline and PsycInfo were used to identify studies meeting inclusion criteria. PRISMA guidelines were followed. RESULTS: Thirty studies met inclusion criteria, with most coming from specialised eating disorder services where prevalence rates were 5%-22.5%. Three studies from specialist feeding clinics showed the highest prevalence rates, ranging from 32% to 64%. Studies from non-clinical samples reported ARFID prevalence estimates ranging from 0.3% to 15.5%. One study, using national surveillance methodology, reported the incidence of ARFID in children and adolescents reaching clinical care to be 2.02 per 100,000 patients. Psychiatric comorbidity was common, especially anxiety disorders (9.1%-72%) and autism spectrum disorder (8.2%-54.75%). CONCLUSION: The current literature on the epidemiology of ARFID in children and adolescents is limited. Studies are heterogeneous with regard to setting and sample characteristics, with a wide range of prevalence estimates. Further studies, especially using surveillance methodology, will help to better understand the nature of this disorder and estimate clinical service needs.

Applications of Developmental Psychopathology.

Developmental psychopathology studies the basic mechanisms, including not only biological factors but also environmental and social factors that may interact with them, by means of which developmental pathways deviate toward pathological or typical outcomes. Family studies conducted during the last century show substantial evidence of heritability among psychiatric disorders. Besides, a large number of genes implicated in shaping the development of the central nervous system have been related to psychiatric conditions. In addition, there is a wide range of stressors and harmful agents that, when acting on sensitive developmental periods, might damage brain function and generate or precipitate psychopathology over time. All these factors have the potential to change the way disorders with a neurodevelopmental origin are expressed, including their age of appearance and clinical manifestations. Both symptoms and social impairment need to be considered in clinical evaluations, as treatment is unlikely to be effective if the problem has not been characterized correctly or if the patients' particular characteristics, which change throughout development, are not taken into consideration.

Comparison of clinical presentation and management of children and adolescents with ARFID between paediatrics and child and adolescent psychiatry: a prospective surveillance study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical presentations, management and outcomes of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) across paediatric and child and adolescent (C&A) psychiatric settings. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective surveillance study. METHODS: Data were collected during a 13-month prospective surveillance study of children and adolescents with ARFID in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Paediatricians reported cases via the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit and psychiatrists through the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Surveillance System. A follow-up questionnaire was sent at 12 months after a case of ARFID was reported. RESULTS: 319 cases were included, 189 from paediatricians and 130 from C&A psychiatrists. Patients presenting to paediatricians were younger (9.8 years vs 13.7 years), more often male (62.4% vs 43.1%), and had more chronic symptoms (80.4% vs 67.0%), selective eating (63.7% vs 46.6%) and comorbid autism (67.6% vs 50.0%) than to psychiatrists. Psychiatrists saw patients with more fear of aversive consequences from eating (13.1% vs 3.2%), weight loss (76.7% vs 65.0%) and comorbid anxiety (78.2% vs 47.4%). Patients presenting to paediatricians more often received medical monitoring (74.6% vs 53.1%), dietetic advice (83.1% vs 70.0%) and nutritional supplements (49.2% vs 30.0%). At follow-up, both cohorts improved in nutritional status. However, the psychiatric cohort improved more regarding disordered eating behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: The presentation and management of ARFID differs across clinical settings. Findings suggest the need to develop clinical pathways for ARFID assessment and management across paediatrics and mental health. Our findings highlight the potential benefits of psychiatric input for some patients with ARFID.

Subtypes of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder in children and adolescents: a latent class analysis.

Background: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) describes three primary avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) subtypes including sensory sensitivity, lack of interest in food or eating, and fear of aversive consequences. Studies exploring these subtypes have yielded varying results. We used latent class analysis (LCA) based on the psychopathology of ARFID in a sample of children and adolescents to empirically identify classes. Methods: We carried out a surveillance study of ARFID in collaboration with the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) and the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Surveillance System (CAPSS) in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from 1st of March 2021 to 31st of March 2022. Paediatricians and child and adolescent psychiatrists were contacted monthly to report newly diagnosed cases of ARFID electronically and complete a detailed clinical questionnaire. Cases aged 5-18 years were included. LCA was performed specifying 1-6 classes and likelihood-based tests for model selection. The Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the Sample-Size Adjusted BIC were used to determine the most parsimonious model. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and χ2 tests were used to compare the characteristics of the identified classes. A multinomial logistic regression (MLR) was performed to investigate predicting factors for the latent classes. Findings: We identified 319 children and adolescents with ARFID. LCA revealed four distinct classes which were labelled as Fear subtype, Lack of Interest subtype, Sensory subtype, and Combined subtype. The probability of being classified as these were 7.2% (n = 23), 25.1% (n = 80), 29.5% (n = 94) and 38.2% (n = 122), respectively. Age at diagnosis, sex, weight loss, distress associated with eating, and autism spectrum disorder diagnosis were identified as predictors of class membership. Interpretation: LCA identified four different classes in a sample of children and adolescents with ARFID. The Combined Subtype, a mixed presentation was the most common. The other three classes resembled the subtypes described in the literature. Clinicians should be aware of these different presentations of ARFID as they may benefit from different clinical interventions. Funding: This study was funded by the Former EMS Ltd (charity number 1098725, registered October 9th 2017).

Life-threatening obsessive-compulsive disorder precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic in an adolescent.

The COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020 has had massive mental health consequences worldwide. It has caused generalised fear and anxiety about catching, spreading and suffering from the virus. This article describes a fictionalised patient's presentation of life-threatening obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) associated with fears of catching COVID-19. The fears resulted in refusal to eat and drink, with subsequent weight loss that required paediatric admission. The scenario portrays the association between COVID-19 and life-threatening OCD symptoms and goes on to illustrate the patient's good response to standard OCD treatments.