Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Pica (Eating Strange Things) | Causes, Conditions, Complications, Diagnosis & Treatment

Pica is an eating disorder involving craving and/or eating inedible, non-nutritive objects and materials. Pica can be associated with other conditions including iron deficiency and other deficiencies along with some psychological conditions. In this lesson, we discuss the proposed pathophysiological mechanisms of pica and why it occurs; we also discuss the medical and psychological (psychiatric) conditions that are associated with it, the complications that can occur including infections, how it’s diagnosed and how it’s treated.

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JJ

REFERENCES:
emedicine.medscape.com/article/914765-overview#a1

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