Nearly one in five patients diagnosed with an eating disorder had a preceding outpatient electrolyte abnormality, Canadian authors say.

The researchers assessed whether outpatient electrolyte abnormalities are associated with the future diagnosis of an eating disorder.

Their analysis included provincial administrative health data for residents of Ontario (aged 13 and older) from 2008 to 2020, with incident eating disorder cases (6970 patients) matched by age and sex to controls (27,878 residents).

Dr Gregory Hundemer from Ottawa Hospital-Riverside Campus and colleagues found that 18.4% of patients with an eating disorder had a preceding electrolyte abnormality versus 7.5% of people without an eating disorder (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.12).