Chinese university students showed less disordered eating during the COVID-19 campus lockdown.

OBJECTIVE: The rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in China had resulted in campus lockdown in many universities since February 2022, profoundly affecting students' daily lives. Campus lockdown conditions differ considerably from home quarantine, so that the eating patterns of university students may be different. Thus, the current study aimed to: (1) investigate university students' eating patterns during campus lockdown; (2) identify factors associated with their disordered eating. METHOD: An online survey about recent life changes, disordered eating, stress, depression, and anxiety was carried out from April 8th to May 16th, 2022. A total of 2541 responses from 29 provinces/cities of China were received. RESULTS: 2213 participants were included in the main analysis, and other 86 participants were analyzed separately as a subgroup due to their diagnosis of eating disorder. Participants who were undergoing campus lockdown (the lockdown group) showed less disordered eating than those who had never been in campus lockdown (the never-lockdown group), as well as those who had experienced campus lockdown before (the once-lockdown group). However, they perceived more stress and felt more depressed. Being female, higher BMI, gaining weight, increasing exercise, spending more time on social media, higher level of depression and anxiety were all related to disordered eating in the lockdown group. CONCLUSIONS: Disordered eating among Chinese university students was less prevalent during campus lockdown due to the strict and regular diet. However, there is a potential risk of "revenge eating" after campus lockdown ends. Thus, there should be further tracking and related prevention. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV, uncontrolled trials without any interventions.

Effectiveness and influencing factors of online education for caregivers of patients with eating disorders during COVID-19 pandemic in China.

OBJECTIVE: The goals were twofold: To estimate the depression and anxiety levels among caregivers of patients with eating disorders (ED) in China during the COVID-19 pandemic when compared with a control group, and to assess whether an online education program was effective in decreasing the anxiety and depression of the caregivers of patients with ED, and associated factors. METHOD: Caregivers of patients with ED (n = 254) and a comparison group of non-ED caregivers (N = 254) were recruited at baseline. Additionally, caregivers of patients with ED were invited into a free 4-week online education program, with an additional online group as support. Depression and anxiety levels were assessed at baseline and after the intervention. RESULTS: Caregivers of patients with ED showed significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety than the comparison group of non-ED caregivers. The online education program showed no significant effect on decreasing depression and anxiety levels of caregivers of patients with ED overall. Caregivers who had older loved ones and not living with them were more likely to decrease their depression levels. Caregivers of patients with longer illness duration were less likely to decrease their anxiety levels. DISCUSSION: These results showed that caregivers of ED patients suffered more serious psychological distress during the pandemic. A more structured and intensive online intervention with a limited number of participants might be required to address caregivers' distress in post-COVID-19 China.