Reuters (5/11, Roy) reports, “U.S. adolescents made fewer weekly emergency department (ED) visits for mental health conditions in Fall 2022 compared to a year earlier, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on” May 11.
CBS News (5/11, Tin) reports, “The data” are “an early sign that the surge in suicide attempts and mental health conditions that filled emergency rooms with adolescent patients, many teen girls, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic might be subsiding nationwide.”
CNN (5/11, McPhillips) reports, “A return to school and other community settings that were more similar to pre-pandemic environments may have helped adolescents feel less isolated and more engaged, CDC researchers said in the new report.”
According to Healio (5/11, Weldon), in coming to these conclusions, investigators examined “ED visit data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program from January 2019 to early February 2023, comprising approximately 75% of EDs in the U.S.” The study revealed that when “compared with the fall of 2021, weekly ED visits for mental health conditions, suicide-related behaviors and drug overdoses decreased overall for boys and girls in the United States aged 12 to 17 years by fall 2022.” The findings were published online May 12 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Related Links:
— “Teen mental health emergency visits decline in U.S. as pandemic eases, CDC says “Sriparna Roy, Reuters, May 11, 2023