Mental health hospitalization rates rose for Canadian children and youth between ages 5 and 24 years in 2020, despite a slight decrease in the overall number of hospital visits, according to new data.
Hospitalizations for eating disorders increased significantly, rising nearly 60% for girls between ages 10 and 17 years.
"One of the key questions throughout the pandemic has focused on the unintended consequences of the pandemic itself, as well as public health measures," Tracy Johnson, MBA, director of health system analytics at the Canadian Institute for Health Information, told Medscape Medical News.
"Hospitalizations and emergency department visits decreased during the first year of the pandemic because of closures and fears about coming in for care," she said. "But the need for mental health care maintained. This kind of jump we're seeing signals that something is happening."
The findings were published online May 5 by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Sex and Socioeconomic Differences
Johnson and colleagues analyzed data from the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System and the Discharge Abstract Database to identify children and youth between ages 5 and 24 years who visited emergency departments or had inpatient stays for mental disorders. They also analyzed mental health drug use with data from the National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System.
