The number of children hospitalised with eating disorders has rocketed by more than 500 per cent in a decade, a major study found.
Figures show a two-thirds increase (65 per cent) in under-18s being treated on acute medical wards because for mental health concerns between 2012 and 2022.
Girls aged 11 to 15 saw the most significant leap with experts warning of ‘striking rates of self-harm’.
But the starkest statistics showed that admissions for eating disorders jumped from 478 to 2,938 over the same period – a rise of almost 515 per cent.
Researchers suggest a lack of community care is exacerbating the issue, which other studies have linked to social media use.
The team analysed data on all admissions for five to 18-year-olds to general acute medical wards in England over a ten-year period.
These wards are separate to specialised mental health wards and provide rapid assessment, treatment, and care for patients who are usually referred via A&E, their GP or an outpatient clinic.
The analysis found mental health admissions increased from 24,198 to 39,925 – a rise of 65 per cent compared to a 10 per cent increase in all cause admissions, which rose from 311,067 to 342,511.
The stark statistics showed that admissions for eating disorders jumped from 478 to 2,938 between 2012 and 2022 – a rise of almost 515 per cent (stock image)
The jump was greatest among girls aged 11-15, more than doubling from 9,091 to 19,349 (stock image)
Researchers suggest a lack of community care is exacerbating the issue, which other studies have linked to social media use (stock image)
The jump was greatest among girls aged 11-15, more than doubling from 9,091 to 19,349.
More than half (53.4 per cent) for mental health were due to self-harm, according to the findings in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.
Dr Lee Hudson and senior author of the study, said previous research has focused on community and inpatient mental health settings, adding these were ‘a piece of jigsaw missing’.
He said: ‘Acute medical wards are important places for caring for young people with mental health concerns – especially those with co-existing physical health problems like starvation from an eating disorder.
‘However, the increased intensity we describe is presenting real challenges for acute wards, both for patients and their families and the staff supporting them.
He said many are not set up or appropriately staffed to care for young people needing this help and that more psychiatrists and mental health trained nurses were needed both on wards and in the community.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic had a ‘profound impact’ on young people, they said it was only one factor behind the increase in admissions.
Further research is being conducted interviewing young people, their families and staff working on wards into the reasons behind the rise.
Figures show a two-thirds increase (65 per cent) in under-18s being treated on acute medical wards because for mental health concerns between 2012 and 2022 (stock image)
More than half (53.4 per cent) for mental health were due to self-harm, according to the findings in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal (stock image)
Dr Karen Street, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said it was ‘further evidences the alarming deterioration in the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people.’
Almost one in in five children aged 7-17 have a probable mental disorder and there has been a stark rise in the complexity and intensity of mental health disorders reported, she said.
She added: ‘More must be done to find out and understand the core drivers for this unparalleled increase to truly design a service which works for our young people.’
Tom Quinn, of eating disorder charity Beat, said: ‘These figures are alarming but sadly not surprising given the increasing numbers of children and young people referred to community and inpatient eating disorder services over the same period. Giving children the earliest possible access to treatment is crucial in order to give them the best chance of recovery, but with the NHS so desperately underfunded it can’t begin to provide this level of care without urgent change.
‘It’s essential that frontline staff on acute medical wards, including non-specialist roles and future doctors, are equipped to recognise and treat complications from eating disorders. We also want to see community eating disorder services receive the funding they desperately need, so that once patients from general medical wards are well enough, they can be welcomed straight into specialist care with as little disruption to families’ lives as possible.
‘We also want to see eating disorders made a priority within the Government’s forthcoming 10-Year Health plan, so that people receive help before they reach the point of needing a medical admission and are not left to become unwell enough for urgent care.
‘Finally, more research is needed in order to fully understand what is driving the rise in children and young people suffering with an eating disorder, and crucially, how this worrying trend can be reversed.’
