COVID-19パンデミック開始以降、精神的危機に陥る子供や青年が増加(More children and adolescents in mental health crisis since beginning of COVID-19 pandemic: study)

2023-05-03

2023-05-03 ニューサウスウェールズ大学(UNSW)

◆オーストラリアの研究者らによる新しい調査によると、COVID-19パンデミックの影響で、オーストラリアの子供や若者の精神衛生に深刻で持続的な悪影響があった。COVID-19制限が緩和された後も、救急部門の受診と入院はわずかに減少したが、以前よりも高いレベルで維持された。
◆この調査は、オーストラリア全土の子供や若者の精神保健に対するCOVID-19の影響を評価する最初の研究の1つである。結果は、小児の精神保健システムに圧力をかけ、未来にわたって入院が必要な子供たちを減らすために、早期介入に投資する必要があることを示している。

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COVID-19と小児精神保健入院の関係
COVID-19 and Pediatric Mental Health Hospitalizations

Jahidur Rahman Khan, Nan Hu, Ping-I Lin, Valsamma Eapen, Natasha Nassar, James John, Jackie Curtis, Maugan Rimmer, Fenton O’Leary, Barb Vernon, Raghu Lingam
Paediatrics Published:April 14 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-058948

OBJECTIVES
To analyze Australian national data to examine the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on mental health-related hospital presentations among children and adolescents during the pandemic period with restrictions, and the period after the restrictions eased.

METHODS
We analyzed the monthly mental health-related inpatient admissions and emergency department (ED) attendances data from 6 large pediatric hospitals across Australia, using the Bayesian structural time series models. The COVID-19 restriction period was from March 2020 to December 2021 and the COVID-19 restriction-eased period from January to June 2022.

RESULTS
A total of 130 801 mental health-related hospital admissions (54 907) and ED attendances (75 894) were analyzed. During the COVID-19 restriction period, there was a significant increase in inpatient admissions related to deliberate self-harm behaviors (82%, 95% credible interval [CrI], 7%–160%) and ED attendances related to overall mental health disorders (15%, 95% CrI, 1.1%–30%) and eating disorders (76%, 95% CrI, 36%–115%). The increase was higher among females and those living in the least socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, suggesting a widening gap between mental health-related presentations by sex and socioeconomic status. After the restrictions eased, there were slight declines in mental health-related hospital presentations; however, the numbers remained higher than the pre–COVID-19 levels.

CONCLUSIONS
The increase in mental health-related hospital presentations during the COVID-19 period calls for additional support for pediatric mental health care, particularly for eating disorders and deliberate self-harm among female adolescents. It is important to monitor pediatric mental health service use as we enter “COVID-19 normal” period.