Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected youth mental health. Increases in site-specific eating disorder (ED) care have been documented; however, multisite studies demonstrating national trends are lacking. This study aims to compare the number of adolescent/young adult patients seeking inpatient and outpatient ED care before and after onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an observational case series design, changes in volume in inpatient and outpatient ED-related care across 15 member sites (14 geographically diverse hospital-based adolescent medicine programs and 1 nonhospital-based ED program) of the US National Eating Disorder Quality Improvement Collaborative was examined. Sites reported monthly volumes of patients seeking inpatient and outpatient ED care between January 2018 and December 2021. Patient volumes pre- and postpandemic onset were compared separately for inpatient and outpatient settings. Demographic data such as race and ethnicity were not collected because this study used monthly summary data.

The COVID-19 pandemic may negatively influence food parenting practices, also among parents of adolescents. Parental well-being (stress and depressive symptoms) may explain these COVID-19 related changes in food parenting practices (snack structure, healthy structure, modeling, autonomy support, and coercive control). However, most previous studies performed before or during the COVID-19 pandemic have been limited by cross-sectional designs. The aim of the current study among parents of adolescent children was twofold. First, it aimed to examine prospective differences in food parenting practices comparing the situation before and during COVID-19. Second, it aimed to examine both cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between parental well-being and the dimensions of food parenting, while additionally examining whether these prospective associations were more pronounced in parents who had experienced more COVID-19 stressful life events.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent public health measures have resulted in a worsening of eating disorder symptoms and an increase in psychological distress. The present study examined symptoms and behaviors in adolescents and young adults with emotional eating, bingeing behaviors and binge eating disorder during the pandemic. Additionally, the study explored if individuals who experienced pandemic-related food availability and food affordability issues experienced increased binge-eating symptoms and negative feelings. Participants (n = 39) were a convenience sample who participated between November 2020 and January 2021 in a weight and lifestyle management program at an urban New England pediatric hospital. Participants completed online surveys that assessed (1) participant’s exposure to COVID-19 related stress and binge-eating behaviors using the COVID-19 Exposure and Family Impact Survey-Adolescent and Young Adult Version (CEFIS-AYA) and the Binge Eating Scale (BES) respectively, (2) participants’ and their families’ ability to attain and afford food and its association with bingeing behaviors, and (3) the relationship between food availability and affordability and negative emotions.

Pregnant women are at a higher risk of food poisoning compared to the general population. This can be detrimental to both the mother and the fetus. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and risk perception of basic food safety and handling among pregnant women in Jordan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study among pregnant women in Jordan was conducted using an online questionnaire between November 2020 and January 2021. The survey included socio-demographic data, food safety knowledge, and risk perception questions as well as COVID-19 related questions.

The purpose of this study was to determine the eating behaviors, obesity and physical activity status of children of similar ages living in rural and urban areas and to examine these relationships during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic process. The research was conducted using the scanning model. The research group consists of children living in rural and urban areas in Turkey. The sample of the study consists of a total of 733 adolescent participants, 351 females (47.9%) and 382 males (52.1%). After anthropometric measurements were made, the Physical Activity Questionnaire for older children and the Yale Food Addiction Scale for children 2.0 were used to determine the food addiction and physical activity status of children during the COVID19 pandemic process. Since the groups were homogeneously distributed, independent samples t-test and Pearson correlation test were used.

Adolescents are susceptible to nutritional status issues, both undernutrition, and over-nutrition, becoming a public health concern promptly. There were 912 junior and high-school adolescents who were obese and 249 high-school adolescents who had low body mass index (BMI) in Samarinda City. During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents experienced changes in sleep duration, and many adolescents were skipping breakfast. Sleep duration and breakfast can affect the nutritional condition of adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between sleep duration, breakfast routine and BMI in Samarinda, Indonesian adolescents during COVID-19 pandemic.

The emergence of COVID 19 pandemic has severely impacted individuals from all walks of life. The present aims to evaluate the mass media impact on food habits, food preference and quality of life during the COVID 19 among adolescence. An questionnaire was framed and converted as Google form. The developed Google form was sent to 200 adolescents belonging to AC & RI and CSC & RI, Madurai and the received 200 responses from the students. The data obtained was consolidated.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of life, especially daily physical activity and healthy eating habits but also mental health. Our study aimed to examine the relationship between the physical activity level, eating habits and mental health of Serbian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 3506 students from the territory of the Republic of Serbia participated in this study. IPAQ-short version and HBSC-FFQ were used to assess physical activity level and eating habits, along with self-rated health.

Adolescents constitute 16% of the global population and are susceptible to adverse health and illness from substance abuse, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and high-risk sexual behaviors. This study aimed to assess the perceptions of good health, health-seeking behavior, and health service utilization among adolescents living in a low-income urban neighborhood after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 23 adolescents, including 12 males and 11 females, were interviewed. Adolescents' perceived body image and size considerations apart from functioning at an optimum physical capacity as the principal attributes of good health, which was possible through the intake of a healthy diet and exercise. Adolescents were likely to be aware of the addiction potential and risk of cancer from using tobacco and alcohol, but attitudes towards eschewing their use were ambivalent. Adolescents perceived themselves as lacking access to reliable, adequate, and validated sources of sexual and reproductive health information. Knowledge and utilization of adolescent health services in this area were negligible, suggestive of the need to strengthen these services and improve the program outreach.

Strict lockdown measures were introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused mass disruption to adolescent swimmers’ daily routines. To measure how lockdown impacted nutritional practices in this cohort, three-day photograph food diaries were analysed at three time points: before (January), during (April), and after (September) the first UK lockdown. Thirteen swimmers (aged 15 ± 1 years) from a high-performance swimming club submitted satisfactory food diaries at all time points.

Chrono-nutrition is an emerging field of research that includes three aspects of time: (1) regularity, (2) frequency, and (3) clock time. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the implemented lockdown, daily routines were disrupted, which presented a unique opportunity to investigate chrono-nutrition, in particular in adolescents. A nested case-control study was conducted and information on chrono-nutrition was collected via an anonymous online questionnaire including 99 participants aged 13 to 20 years (N = 43 before the COVID-19 pandemic and N = 56 during the COVID-19 pandemic).

Jordan is a small, highly resource-constrained country situated in the heart of the Middle East. Long a haven for refugees fleeing regional conflict, over one-third of Jordan’s 10 million residents are not Jordanian. Jordan is home to approximately 1.5 million Syrians, half of whom are registered as refugees with UNHCR. Jordan is also hosting 2.5 million registered Palestine refugees. In Jordan, GAGE has collected mixed-methods baseline data (between mid-2018 and early 2019) with approximately 4,000 Syrian, Palestinian, Jordanian and Dom adolescents living in host communities, formal refugee camps and informal tented settlements; fielded three rounds of covid-19 phone surveys; and is running ongoing participatory research groups with older married girls, out-of-school boys and adolescent girls and boys with disabilities (15–19 years). GAGE is also evaluating a variety of UNICEF Jordan’s programming. This brief highlights headline emerging findings and provides links to fuller publications.

Since 2019, Lebanon’s economy has been caught in an accelerating downward spiral, which the World Bank predicts will rank in the top three most severe global economic crises in the last 150 years. Food prices have now climbed more than 500%, over half of the country is living below the poverty line and the electrical grid is on the verge of collapse as fuel has become unavailable. For the 1.5 million Syrian refugees and nearly 200,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, the situation is even more dire. In Lebanon, GAGE is running participatory research groups with 83 vulnerable Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese adolescents. These young people are between the ages of 15 and 19 and live in host communities, formal refugee camps served by UNRWA (Palestinians), and informal tented settlements  (Syrians). The participatory research groups were established in 2019 and meet every four to six weeks  to discuss themes related to GAGE’s conceptual framework. This brief highlights headline emerging findings and provides links to fuller publications.