The Prevalence of Children and Adolescents at Risk for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder in a Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Clinic

Study Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of child and adolescent females at risk for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) in a tertiary care pediatric and adolescent gynecology (PAG) clinic.

Design: Cross-sectional study design.

Setting: Tertiary care PAG clinic at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Participants: Females between 8 and 18 years of age presenting to the tertiary care PAG clinic.

Intervention: Between October 2017 and April 2019, eligible patients completed a 3-part, self-administered questionnaire that included demographic and anthropometric information, reason(s) for referral, medical history, menstrual history and function, and the Eating Disorders in Youth-Questionnaire (EDY-Q).

Main Outcome Measures: The main outcome measure was the prevalence of child and adolescent females who were identified to be at risk for ARFID in a tertiary care PAG clinic.

Results: Seven (3.7%) of 190 patients were identified to be at risk for ARFID based on the EDY-Q. All patients at risk for ARFID had a significantly lower body mass index (17.4 ± 1.6 vs 24.4 ± 6.7, P < .001) than patients not at risk for ARFID.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that 3.7% of patients seeking treatment in a tertiary care PAG clinic were identified to be at risk for ARFID. Clinicians in tertiary care PAG clinics can play a pivotal role in the identification and referral of children and adolescents at risk for ARFID. Referral to the patients' primary care physician or to an eating disorder program is important so as not to delay the diagnosis and treatment.