Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)

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Target exams

Red flags

• Medical instability from restriction — bradycardia, hypotension, hypothermia, syncope, severe electrolyte derangement — same-day senior medical review and likely admission
• Refeeding risk when nutrition is restarted in a depleted underweight patient — monitor phosphate, potassium, magnesium
• Acute total food/fluid refusal with dehydration or hypoglycaemia — medical emergency pathway
• Growth failure, faltering weight, or dependence on enteral nutrition without an active multidisciplinary plan
• Micronutrient deficiency emergencies (e.g. scurvy, severe iron-deficiency anaemia, B12 neuropathy) from extreme selectivity
• Mislabeling ARFID as anorexia nervosa (or the reverse) and applying the wrong psychotherapy targets