Pediatric Mental Health ED Visits Lower Than Expected in Late Pandemic

Visit rates higher than expected for females and for specific mental health conditions during 2022

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, April 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Pediatric mental health (MH) emergency department visits were lower during the late pandemic period than prepandemic, according to a study published online April 2 in Academic Emergency Medicine.

In a retrospective study, Jennifer A. Hoffmann, M.D., from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and colleagues examined how pediatric MH emergency department visits during the COVID-19 pandemic differed from expected prepandemic trends. Children aged 5 to

A total of 175,979 pediatric MH emergency department visits were identified. For 7.3, 8.4, 15.0, and 19.2 percent of prepandemic, early pandemic, midpandemic, and late pandemic visits, respectively, visit length exceeded 12 hours. The researchers found that compared with expected rates, observed visits per 30 days decreased during the early pandemic (RR, 0.80; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.78 to 0.84), were similar during the midpandemic (RR, 1.01; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.96 to 1.07), then decreased during the late pandemic (RR, 0.92; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.86 to 0.98). Visits were higher than expected for females and for bipolar disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and substance-related and addictive disorders.

“Our results have relevance to policy considerations and the development of tailored interventions to improve youth mental health,” the authors write.