Affiliation:
1. The Possibilities Project, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2. Departments of Pediatrics
3. Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness and PolicyLab
4. Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine
5. Penn Implementation Science Center at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
6. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Mental health concerns increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, but previous studies have not examined depression screening in pediatric primary care. We aimed to describe changes in screening, depressive symptoms, and suicide risk among adolescents during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
METHODS
In a repeat cross-sectional analysis of electronic health record data from a large pediatric primary care network, we compared the percentage of primary care visits where adolescents aged 12 to 21 were screened for depression, screened positive for depressive symptoms, or screened positive for suicide risk between June and December 2019 (prepandemic) and June and December 2020 (pandemic). Changes were examined overall, by month, and by sex, race and ethnicity, insurance type, and income. Modified Poisson regression was used to calculate prevalence ratios (PRs) for the prepandemic to pandemic changes.
RESULTS
Depression screening at primary care visits declined from 77.6% to 75.8% during the pandemic period (PR: 0.98, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.90–1.06). The percentage of adolescents screening positive for depressive symptoms increased from 5.0% to 6.2% (PR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.15–1.34), with greater increases among female, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic white adolescents. Positive suicide risk screens increased from 6.1% to 7.1% (PR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.08–1.26), with a 34% relative increase in reporting recent suicidal thoughts among female adolescents (PR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.18–1.52).
CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that depression and suicide concerns have increased during the pandemic, especially among female adolescents. Results underscore the importance of consistent depression and suicidality screening.
Publisher
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Subject
Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
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