Mood Disorders Have Increased Among Kids, Teens

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Depression and anxiety have been increasing steadily among children and teenagers in recent years, a new study says.

More than 1 in 10 children (10.6%) suffered from anxiety in 2022, up from 7.1% in 2016, researchers reported in JAMA Pediatrics.

During the same period, depression among children increased to 4.6% from 3.2%, results show.

“Our findings underscore the critical need to prioritize youth mental health, which continued to worsen even as we emerged from the pandemic,” lead researcher Marie Heffernan, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a news release.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, which is funded by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

Results showed that some physical maladies among children decreased even as their mood disorders rose.

Asthma declined from 8.4% to 6.5% between 2016 and 2022, and severe headaches or migraines declined from 3.5% to 2.6%, researchers found.

Behavior and conduct problems remained at about the same levels, around 7%, researchers said.

“Continued attention and resources are warranted at a national level to clarify and address the multitude of potential causes of worsening anxiety and depression in children and adolescents,” senior researcher Dr. Michelle Macy, an emergency medicine physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said in a news release.

Source: HealthDay
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/mental-health/mood-disorders-have-increased-among-kids-teens