The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on disordered eating behaviors: the mediation role of psychological distress

Abstract

Purpose This study aimed to explore the early associations between the experienced psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis during lockdown, depressive symptomatology, anxiety/stress levels, and disordered eating behaviors in adults during a first COVID-19 lockdown period. Methods This was a community-based cross-sectional study assessing 254 Portuguese adults (82.7% women; 35.82 ± 11.82 years) 1 week after the end of the first mandatory COVID-19 lockdown in Portugal. An online survey was conducted to evaluate psychological distress, disordered eating, and psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pearson correlations and Structural Equation Modeling were performed. Results Participants reported the presence of meal skipping (52.8%), grazing eating behavior (80.9%), overeating (81.0%), loss of control over eating (47.2%), and binge eating episodes (39.2%) during lockdown. Structural equation modeling analyses, controlling for age and sex, indicated that there was a significant indirect effect of the experienced psychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on disordered eating behaviors mediated through psychological distress. Conclusion The psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis may lead to disordered eating, and this relation may occur through the elevation of psychological distress. These findings can be used to inform interventions, to enhance mental health and manage disordered eating during similar future situations. Level of evidence V: cross-sectional descriptive study

Anxiety, Anhedonia, and related food consumption at the beginning of the COVID-19 quarantine in populations of Spanish-speaking Ibero-American countries: An online cross-sectional survey study

“…Moreover, those who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages, pastries, and fried food, had greater odds of increasing the serving size of food. These findings are consistent with recent research, where people affected by environmental changes showed increased food consumption ( Ramalho et al, 2021 ), or changes in the type of food, probably caused by increased anxiety levels ( Salazar-Fernández et al, 2021 ; Usubini et al, 2021 ). Our findings are in line with those of other studies.…”

The Perceived Impact of COVID-19 on Comfort Food Consumption over Time: The Mediational Role of Emotional Distress

“…Our findings are consistent with previous research during the H1NI pandemic [35][36][37] that has recognized that threats, such as the pandemic, trigger emotional distress, which results in coping mechanisms. More importantly, our results longitudinally replicate and expand the findings of Ramalho et al [38] in Portugal. In their cross-sectional study, the authors found that participants who experienced increased psychological distress, due to COVID-19 lockdowns, engaged in more disordered eating behaviors.…”

“…Third, our sample included participants of different ages, so our model has potentially generalizable results. Fourth, we expanded the cross-sectional findings of Ramalho et al [38] in Portugal using longitudinal data. Thus, we moved towards the estimation of these over time effects, and also, were able to find similar results on a different continent.…”

“…The findings have suggested that threats of being infected trigger both the experience of negative emotions (i.e., anxiety, worry, fear) and engagement in coping behaviors [35][36][37]. Moreover, Ramalho et al [38] explored cross-sectionally the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on disordered eating behaviors through the mediating effect of psychological distress. To our knowledge, no previous study has longitudinally examined the potential mediating effect of emotional distress in the relationship between the perceived impact of the pandemic and comfort food consumption as reactions to such stress.…”

Influence of Body Mass Index on Eating Habits and Food Choice Determinants Among Brazilian Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Nutritional counseling during a pandemic is recommended, considering that healthy eating habits are possibly important to maintain a healthy immune system (33,34), and that eating disorders may worse their symptomatology during COVID-19 pandemic (35). Nutritional counseling is also relevant to ensure that pandemic and quarantines do not inflate obesity rates as a consequence of inappropriate eating habits (36).…”