Weekly emergency department visits nationwide for mental health conditions and drug overdoses among adolescents, have fallen by 10 percent, but levels are still slightly increasing for adolescent female patients specifically, according to a May 12 report from the CDC.
While it is known that COVID-19 exacerbated mental health conditions in general, an analysis of medical record data from 75 percent of the nation's emergency departments between January 2019 and February 2023 revealed that ED visits of this kind for females in particular are "at or higher than the prepandemic baseline for mental health conditions overall, suicide-related behaviors, and drug overdoses," according to the CDC report.
Meanwhile, ED visits of the same category for male patients have stabilized, the report notes.
However, the CDC points out that the "data are from ED visits which do not represent the full spectrum of adolescent mental and behavioral health challenges; trends warrant confirmation with adolescent self-report data."
Though overall, the agency says the revelations from the report should cause clinicians to prioritize the "implementation of evidence-based prevention and trauma-informed early intervention and treatment strategies that promote mental and behavioral health among adolescents."