“Sharp Rise in Adolescent Mental Health Visits During Covid-19 Pandemic, Especially Among Teenage Girls – New CDC Report”

2023-05-15 15:16:21

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Visits to the emergency department for mental health reasons have risen sharply among children and adolescents during the Corona (Covid-19) pandemic.

A new report published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Control (CDC) showed signs of improvement, but poor mental health remains a “major public health problem”, especially among teenage girls.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control tracked average weekly emergency department visits among individuals ages 12 to 17 for nine specific mental health conditions, suicide attempts, other behaviors associated with suicide, and drug overdoses.

By the fall of 2022, the average emergency department visits for conditions related to overall mental health, suicidal behavior, and drug overdose were 10% lower than they were in the fall of 2021.

Despite this decrease, those visits remained close to pre-pandemic baseline levels for adolescent girls, or higher.

The rates remained significantly higher among adolescent girls than among boys.

In the fall of 2022, there were more than 4,000 mental health visits among adolescent girls, compared to nearly 2,400 visits among adolescent girls.

Suspected suicide attempts were four times higher among adolescent girls than among boys.

Health experts have sounded the alarm about young people’s mental health for years.

And the Centers for Disease Control released a survey in February that showed teen girls had experienced higher levels of violence and grief in recent years, along with a higher risk of suicide.

It’s possible, CDC researchers say in the new report, that returning to school and other community environments similar to pre-pandemic environments has contributed to teens feeling less isolated and more engaged.