Mental Health-Related Emergency Department Visits in Adolescents Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multicentric Retrospective Study

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare pre/post-COVID-19 changes in mental health-related emergency department visits among adolescents.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all mental health-related emergency department visits in two large tertiary pediatric hospital centers between January 2018 and December 2020. We described monthly pre/post-COVID-19 changes in frequency and proportion of mental health visits as well as changes in hospitalization rates for eating disorders, suicidality, substance use, and other mental health conditions.

Results: We found an increase in the proportion of mental health-related emergency department visits during the months of July-December 2020 (p < .01). There was a 62% increase in eating disorder visits between 2018-2019 and 2020 (p < .01). No pre pandemic/postpandemic changes were found in the proportion of visits resulting in hospitalization for any of the four diagnostic categories.

Conclusions: Our study suggests significant impacts of COVID-19 on adolescent mental health and a need for further longitudinal research work in this area.

Keywords: Adolescent; COVID-19; Eating Disorder; Emergency department; Hospitalization; Mental Health; Suicidality.