Rise in Mental Illnesses Among Youth During COVID-19

Global prevalence of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety in children and adolescents are found to be elevated since the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global prevalence of mental illnesses like depression, and anxiety in children and adolescents were observed more commonly since the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic as per a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Emergence of pandemic has dramatically disrupted the everyday lives of many youths. The study team conducted a meta-analysis with 29 studies and a total of 3094 nonduplicate titles/abstracts & 136 full-text articles from January 1, 2020, to February 16, 2021.

Depression - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.

‘Global prevalence of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety in children and adolescents is found to be elevated since the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. This warrants attention and the need for further mental health management.’

This included 80 879 youth across the world to estimate the prevalence of mental illness during COVID-19.

Mental Illness Prevalence

It was found that the prevalence of clinically elevated levels of depression and anxiety was 25.2% and 20.5%, respectively among the children and adolescents. The prevalence was found to be doubled during COVID-19 when compared with prepandemic estimates (generalized anxiety 11.6% and depressive symptoms 12.9%).

Depression - Symptom Evaluation
Depression occurs due to alterations in the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.

Around 1 in 4 youth experience clinically elevated depression symptoms, and 1 in 5 youth experience elevated anxiety symptoms. Moreover the symptoms were higher in studies conducted later in the pandemic, in girls, and older children.

The study indicates that this significantly increased incidence of mental illness warrants attention and need for further mental health management.

Mental Health Concerns of Teens During Pandemic
The rising teenage patients with mental health problems during the pandemic show that adolescent behavioral health is a growing concern, and need more vigilance.

Source-Medindia

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