- Posted
- May 12, 2023
CDC: Teen mental health ED visits drop, behavioral health remains public health concern
U.S. adolescents made fewer weekly emergency department visits for mental health conditions in Fall 2022 compared to a year earlier, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday (Source: “Teen mental health emergency visits decline in U.S. as pandemic eases, CDC says,” Reuters, May 11).
According to the CDC data, by late 2022, pandemic restrictions had been loosened or lifted and adolescents had generally returned to schools, with better social engagement and reduced isolation linked with improved mental and behavioral health, the researchers noted.
However, while mental health emergency visits for adolescents overall during that year fell by 11%, poor mental and behavioral health in this age group remains a substantial public health issue, they said.
Between Fall 2021 and Fall 2022, weekly ED visits for opioid-involved overdoses increased by 41% in adolescent males and by 10% in females, according to data published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. And compared to three years earlier, the number of ED visits by females in Fall 2022 was unchanged for mental health conditions overall, 14% higher for suicide-related behaviors, and 16% higher for drug overdoses, the researchers found.