Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of antidepressant medications dispensed to adolescents and young adults, especially women, has increased sharply, the scientific journal Pediatrics reported March 1.
A study of antidepressant use in the West suggests that an increasing number of young people aged 12 to 25 are using them. The number of young people taking antidepressants before the pandemic was already increasing each year, and the antidepressant dispensing rate has increased 64% since March 2020, according to Michigan Medicine Pediatrics Research.
“Dispensing of antidepressants to adolescents and young adults was already high and continuing to increase even before March 2020. Our results show that these trends have accelerated during the pandemic.”said the study’s lead author, Kao Ping Chua, MD, a pediatrician at the University of Michigan.
The researchers analyzed data from pharmaceutical prescriptions. They found that the increase in antidepressant dispensing rates during the pandemic was primarily driven by women.
After March 2020, the rate increased 130% faster among adolescent girls ages 12 to 17 and 60% faster among adolescent girls ages 18 to 25.
“Numerous studies show that rates of anxiety and depression among adolescent girls have increased during the pandemic.”Chua said.
These studies suggest that the pandemic has worsened a pre-existing mental health crisis among adolescents.
Unlike women, antidepressant dispensing rates changed little among young men after March 2020 and decreased among teenage men, which surprised Chua.
He said a more likely explanation is that teenage boys may have missed physical exams and other doctor visits during the pandemic, reducing the ability to diagnose and treat anxiety and depression.
Chua said the overall increase in dispensing antidepressants to teenagers and young adults may not just be due to worsening mental health. For example, long waiting lists for psychotherapy may also have played a role.
This study reinforces the need to understand the factors contributing to this increase and develop effective prevention and early detection of mental health problems in adolescence.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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