Data-driven assessment of adolescents’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The measures used to contain the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruption to the lives of children and adolescents, compromising their mental health and wellbeing. In this study we assessed the incidence rates of psychiatric diagnoses and drugs in Israeli adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of health records data of over 200,000 12-17 years old adolescents identified a significant increase in all mental health diagnoses and most psychiatric drugs dispensation during the COVID-19 period compared to a corresponding pre-COVID period. A gender sub-analysis revealed that most of this increase was associated with adolescent girls. Girls exhibited increases of 68% in depression, 67% in eating disorders, 42% in anxiety and 29% in stress-related diagnoses during the COVID-19 period, which are significantly higher rates than those seen in boys and in the pre-COVID period. Sector sub-analysis showed that the increase was mainly in the general Jewish sector with almost no significant increases in the Arab and ultra-orthodox sectors. Our study highlights the mental health burden of Israeli adolescents during the pandemic and suggests that careful consideration should be given to it while deciding on measures to mitigate the pandemic.

Effects of COVID-19 Lockdowns on the development of educational, social and emotional gaps between the children - A Retrospective Chart Review

“…Similar results were shown in a prospective cohort study done in Japan, which found an increase in the number of schoolchildren with severe emotional/behavioral problems during the COVID-19 pandemic (9), as well as a recent Israeli study which found an increase in depression, eating disorders, anxiety and stress-related diagnoses during the COVID-19 period (10). A family atmosphere that depends on the parents' nancial and health situation, the lack of support of an extended family and the quality of the familial relationship added to this complexity.…”

Children and Adolescents' Mental Health Following COVID-19: The Possible Role of Difficulty in Emotional Regulation

“…For girls and children, the increase was significant in the total problems, conduct and peer relationship problems, and for adolescents there was a significant increase only in the peer relationship problem. These findings may reflect the accumulated evidence about the clinical change in the referred population to public mental health services, suggesting that before the pandemic most girls were referred to the service due to high levels of anxiety while during the pandemic their referral was due to eating disorders ( 15 ). Also, it seems that children are more vulnerable to emotional and behavioral problems during quarantine, as they have fewer psychological resources for coping with stressful circumstances in comparison to youth, fewer opportunities to maintain contact with other people during quarantine using electronic devices ( 65 ), and rely almost exclusively on their caregivers as relational sources ( 66 ).…”

“…Children and adolescents have also been impacted by the marital and family dynamics of stress, neglect and violence following the pandemic, and the concern for the wellbeing of parents and other family members ( 13 , 14 ). Most preliminary studies of the pandemic indicated an increase in stress, anxiety, post-traumatic symptoms and depressed moods, and a decrease in health-related quality of life in children and adolescents around the world, including in Israel ( 10 , 15 – 17 ).…”

Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on eating disorders diagnoses among adolescents and young adults in Catalonia: A population‐based cohort study

“…None of these studies stratified their results by socioeconomic status. Emerging evidence based on EHR data from Israel also suggests a significant rise in EDs diagnoses among adolescents aged 12–17 years old, with higher increases among those with medium and high socioeconomic status (Bilu et al, 2022 ). In the present study, the most deprived quintile of the population obtained the highest increase in incidence rates during the post‐lockdown period compared to those obtained in 2018–2019.…”

“…To date, few longitudinal studies have studied the potential effect of the COVID‐19 pandemic on ED diagnoses (Asch et al, 2021 ; Bilu et al, 2022 ; Haripersad et al, 2021 ; Lin et al, 2021 ; Taquet et al, 2021 ). However, most of these were focused on the short‐ or mid‐term effects of the pandemic, and none included incidence rates stratified by socioeconomic status or in European countries (Asch et al, 2021 ; Haripersad et al, 2021 ; Lin et al, 2021 ; Taquet et al, 2021 ).…”