Hospital admissions for eating disorders in children double in five years

Eva Osborne

The number of children being admitted to hospitals for eating disorders is rising rapidly.

Figures from the Health Research Board show admissions for under-18s have doubled in just five years.

Over 1,500 children were admitted to hospital for eating disorders between 2018 and 2022.

The number rose from 170 admissions in the first year, to 375 in the last, with a peak of 538 during the height of lockdown in 2021.

Eating disorder recovery specialist, Dr Kielty Oberlin, said the findings aren't surprising.

Speaking to Newstalk, Oberlin said: "In a way it's a relief, here are the numnbers to validate what, on a clinical level I'm experiencing," she said.

"People are desperate. They're looking for help, and the resources just aren't out there."

Anorexia was the most common diagnosis for children in psychiatric hospitals, making up 91 per cent of 370 admissions.

Nine in 10 admissions to acute hospitals were female, and the average age was about 13.

In psychiatric hospitals, 95 per cent were girls and the average person was just over 15-years-old.

Bodywhys chief executive, Harriet Parson, said boys and men can often find it harder to seek help.

"You can see it in our figures than 10 per cent of people with an eating disorder are male. In actual fact the figure is more like 25 per cent," she said.

"Those figures are not the same when we look at the admission figures or people contacting services.

"So that means, asbolutely, for men with eating disorders, they're still unrecognised."

Overall, there were over 6,400 child admissions for mental or behavioural disorders, with eating disorders representing just under a quarter of cases.