Compared with 2019, rates of weekly ED visits associated with mental health conditions (MHCs) declined during 2020, followed by variation in specific MHCs by age and sex during 2021 and January 2022, according to research published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Kayla N. Anderson, PhD, and colleagues examined changes in US pediatric ED visits for overall MHCs and ED visits associated with specific MHCs among all children and adolescents aged 0-17. For girls aged 12-17 during 2020, 2021, and January 2022, compared with 2019, there were increases in weekly visits for two of nine MHCs (eating disorders and tic disorders); four of nine MHCs (depression, eating disorders, tic disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD]); and five of nine MHCs (anxiety, trauma and stressor-related disorders, eating disorders, tic disorders, and OCD), respectively.
