Eating disorders: meeting the need for a data driven and coproduced response to pandemic disruption

Global and severe increased prevalence of eating disorders during the covid-19 pandemic1 has been linked to the many new and increased stressors brought about by pandemic related public health measures and messaging.2 Service provision was also disrupted, with increased demand for specialist care alongside a restricted or altered capacity to provide it. In England this mismatch was stark even before the pandemic,3 and subsequent technology based innovations in treatment provision have not been adopted consistently or proven equally accessible.4While the increased challenges in providing timely and effective care may also present opportunities to improve healthcare provision, the eating disorders field is hampered by a lack of standardised, routine data collection. Only recently have there been efforts to achieve international consensus regarding outcome measures that may indicate treatment efficacy5 and which data to collect in clinical trials.6There are real world implications, as author JD describes: “The lack of information available to…
Read Original Article: Eating disorders: meeting the need for a data driven and coproduced response to pandemic disruption »