Social networks and eating disorders during the Covid-19 pandemic

Concetta M Vaccaro; Giulia Guarino; Dario Conte; Emanuela Ferrara; Laura Dalla Ragione; Renata Bracale

doi:10.1515/med-2021-0291

Social networks and eating disorders during the Covid-19 pandemic

Open Med (Wars). 2021 Aug 24;16(1):1170-1174. doi: 10.1515/med-2021-0291. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Concetta M Vaccaro¹, Giulia Guarino², Dario Conte², Emanuela Ferrara², Laura Dalla Ragione^{3

4}, Renata Bracale²

Affiliations

¹ Fondazione Censis, Health and Welfare Department, Piazza di Novella, 2, Rome, Italy.
² Department of Medicine and Sciences for Health, Molise University, Campobasso, Italy.
³ Psychiatry and Rehabilitation Eating Disorders Department, USL1 Umbria, Umbria, Italy.
⁴ Campus Biomedico University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the increase both in the use of the Internet and social media and in Google searches regarding eating disorders (ED) in Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our aim is also to verify the possible impact of such an increase on ED, since patients treated for ED by the National Health Service (NHS) have increased in the first 6 months of 2020 as well.

Method: We used data from Wearesocial surveys on Internet users in the first 6 months of 2020 and the Google searches related to the query of "food disorders" and "body shaming." The first results of a project of the Italian Ministry of Health on ED have been considered too.

Results: The social media users in July 2020 increased to 60% of the Italian population; a tendential increase in Google searches on these issues has emerged. Finally, new patients of NHS with ED showed a high increase in the first 6 months of 2020 (+40.9%).

Conclusion: Considering the contents diffused on the Internet, it is fundamental to watch over net usage in the adolescent population and those with ED, because massive access to social media can be considered almost as a risk factor.

Keywords: Covid-19; ED; body shaming; social network.