Zhang-James Y, Clay JWS, Aber RB, Gamble HM, Faraone SV. Post-COVID-19 Mental Health Distress in 13 Million Youth: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Electronic Health Records.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2024:S0890-8567(24)00263-6. [PMID:
38815620 DOI:
10.1016/j.jaac.2024.03.023]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 03/24/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 infection on the rates of mental disorders in youth.
METHOD
The study involved 7,519,465 children and 5,338,496 adolescents from the TriNetX Research Network, all without prior mental disorder histories. Among them, 290,145 children and 223,667 adolescents had SARS-CoV-2-positive tests or confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to evaluate the probability of developing new mental disorders (any codes in International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) F01-F99 category and suicidal behaviors) within 2 years post infection, compared to the propensity score-matched youth who were never infected.
RESULTS
Within 2 years post SARS-CoV-2 infection, children had a probability of 0.15 in acquiring new psychiatric diagnoses, compared to 0.026 for matched non-infected children; adolescents had a 0.19 probability against 0.05 for their non-infected counterparts. The hazard ratio (HR) was 6.0 (95% CI = 5.8-6.3) for children and 4.2 for adolescents (95% CI = 4.1-4.4), with children vs adolescents HR of 1.4 (95% CI = 1.36-1.51). Elevated HRs were observed for almost all subcategories of mental disorders and suicidal behaviors, with variations based on sex, severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and viral variants. COVID-19 was similar to other respiratory infections in increasing the rate of mental disorders in adolescents, but had a significantly higher effect on children (HR = 1.57, 95% CI =1.53-1.61).
CONCLUSION
This study revealed significant mental health distress following SARS-CoV-2 infection in youth, which was more pronounced in children than in adolescents. These findings underscore the urgent need to support at-risk youth, particularly those who contracted SARS-CoV-2 at younger ages and had more severe infections.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT
One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science.
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