1. New and continuing physician-based outpatient mental health care among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada: a population-based study.
- Author
-
Toulany, Alene, Vigod, Simone, Kurdyak, Paul, Stukel, Therese A., Strauss, Rachel, Longdi Fu, Guttmann, Astrid, Guan, Jun, Cohen, Eyal, Chiu, Maria, Hepburn, Charlotte Moore, Moran, Kimberly, Gardner, William, Cappelli, Mario, Sundar, Purnima, and Saunders, Natasha
- Subjects
MENTAL health services ,COVID-19 pandemic ,MEDICAL care use ,ADOLESCENT health ,TEENAGE girls ,TEENAGERS - Abstract
Objective: To assess physician-based mental health care utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic among children and adolescents new to care and those already engaged with mental health services, and to evaluate differences by sociodemographic factors. Study design: We performed a population-based repeated cross-sectional study using linked health and administrative databases in Ontario, Canada among all children and adolescents 3-17 years. We examined outpatient visit rates per 1,000 population for mental health concerns for those new to care (no physicianbased mental healthcare for =1 year) and those with continuing care needs (any physician-based mental healthcare <1 year) following onset of the pandemic. Results: Among ~2.5 million children and adolescents (48.7% female, mean age 10.1 ± 4.3 years), expected monthly mental health outpatient visits were 1.5/1,000 for those new to mental health care and 5.4/1,000 for those already engaged in care. Following onset of the pandemic, visit rates for both groups were above expected [adjusted rate ratio (aRR) 1.22, 95% CI 1.17, 1.27; aRR 1.10, 95% CI 1.07, 1.12] for new and continuing care, respectively. The greatest increase above expected was among females (new: aRR 1.33, 95% CI 1.25, 1.42; continuing: aRR 1.22 95% CI 1.17, 1.26) and adolescents ages 13-17 years (new: aRR 1.31, 95% CI 1.27, 1.34; continuing: aRR 1.15 95% CI 1.13, 1.17). Mood and anxiety concerns were prominent among those new to care. Conclusions: In the 18 months following onset of the pandemic, outpatient mental health care utilization increased for those with new and continuing care needs, especially among females and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF