Citation

Itzhaky L, Levin Y, Har-Sinay M, Levy T, Benatov J, Zalsman G. J. Psychiatr. Res. 2023; 168: 300-303.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.10.050

PMID

37939624

Abstract

COVID-19 has been found to take a toll on the mental health of children and adolescents worldwide. This study retrospectively evaluated the changes in the number of general and suicide-related visits to a pediatric psychiatric emergency department (ED) at Geha Mental Health Center in Israel and the distribution of sex and age of the 5-18-year-old youth who visited the ED. The study looked at visits from the pre-pandemic years to the first and second years of the pandemic. The findings showed a sharp decrease in visits at the beginning of the pandemic, followed by a significant increase in the first year and a nonsignificant decline in the second year. The proportion of girls' ED visits was higher in the pandemic years compared to the pre-pandemic years. Regarding suicide-related visits, after a sharp decline at the beginning of the pandemic, the number of visits increased at a rate similar to the pre-pandemic period. We conclude that the pattern of change was similar to that of other population-level exposures to continuous stress conditions. Further research on the vulnerability of girls in similar situations is needed.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescents; Stress; COVID-19; Suicidal ideation; Emergency department; Suicidal Behavior