Study: Kids suffered from depression, anxiety and attempted suicide more during COVID pandemic

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Children and adolescents across 18 countries accessed emergency medical services after attempted suicides more during the COVID pandemic than before.

New research by the University of Calgary and co-authored by researchers at the University of Ottawa and CHEO found visits for suicide attempts and suicidal ideation jumped steeply.

From the pandemic's beginning until July 2021, pediatric emergency visits for suicide attempts by minors rose 22% compared to rates before the pandemic. Emergency department visits also rose 8% for those experiencing suicidal ideation from the same age group.

Based on more than 11 million pediatric emergency department visits across 18 countries, the research confirms the findings of previous studies, which uncovered twice as much depression and anxiety among minors during the first year of the pandemic.

"This new study further demonstrates that the kids have not been alright during the pandemic, with an increased presentation to the emergency department for serious concerns," said Dr. Nicole Racine, a clinical psychologist and chair in child and youth mental health at CHEO and co-author of the research.

Despite backtracking on COVID amnesty for those charged under the Public Health Act, Premier Danielle Smith is creating a panel to review her predecessor's COVID legislation and governance to improve their response to future health emergencies.

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The research findings reflect the experience at CHEO in Ottawa, where emergency room visits for suicidal ideation and self-harm increased early in the pandemic. The surge in emergency visits for mental health issues has continued. 

Even as the number of children and youth coming to the emergency department for viral illnesses began to decrease at the beginning of 2023, after an unprecedented surge, demand for mental health treatment remained high and continues, said CHEO spokesperson Patrick Moore.

"The mental health surge just keeps on going."

Co-author Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt, Canada Research Chair for school-based mental health and violence prevention at uOttawa, concurred that young people experienced more mental health problems during the pandemic.

According to the Fraser Institute, public health lockdowns devastated the economy and are considered a "radical and untried social policy." 

"All lockdown efforts amounted to almost nothing," but the actual estimates of most of these costs are still unavailable, according to the essay COVID-19: The Lessons We Should Have Learned. 

Manitoba spent millions on external shelters to facilitate family visits at nursing homes during the COVID pandemic. Now, 105 units sit virtually unused and could wind up on the chopping block.

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"Babies born during the pandemic scored lower on gross and fine motor skills, had developmental delays, and fared much worse on intelligence tests. It is tragically ironic that children were least likely to suffer from the COVID disease but the most likely to suffer from the COVID response," it reads.

Again, actual estimates of these costs have yet to be made available.

Lead author Dr. Sheri Madigan from the University of Calgary is calling for better mental health support for children and youth who "were in crisis."

"We needed to bolster services and resources, or it would [worsen]," she said, "to help children shift from languishing to flourishing."

"There's been a debate during the pandemic as to whether the kids are alright or not alright. Now that more data has been published and analyzed, we can more precisely answer that question."

"The kids are, in fact, not alright," said Madigan.