Youth self-harm higher than expected during COVID-19 pandemic: study

Hospital visits for self-harm among youth saw a 'large' increase during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, according to a new study.

Pediatric hospital visits for self-harm saw a “large” increase during the first years of COVID-19 in Canada, new research states.

A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) Monday showed higher-than-expected rates of emergency department visits and hospital admissions for self-harm among children and adolescents between March 2020 and June 2022.

There was a marked increase in acute care visits for self-harm particularly among younger girls aged 10 to 13 years. The research included nearly 1.3 million youth aged 10 to 17 years in Ontario.

Pandemic-related measures and lockdowns that forced school closures likely played a role, along with other contributing factors, according to the study authors.

“Findings may reflect the prolonged and cumulative effects of pandemic-related stressors on this younger age group such as social isolation, loss of routines, missed milestones, changing learning environments, familial stress, inadequately treated psychiatric conditions, substance misuse or changing patterns of mental health service use at a critical point in their developmental trajectory,” the authors wrote.

Limited access to care as hospitals grappled with staffing shortages also likely had an impact on youth’s mental health, they added.

“The unabated demand for acute mental health services for self-harm among youth suggests lasting effects of the pandemic and continued undertreatment of mental distress in this population, despite the widespread lifting of pandemic restrictions,” the researchers from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), ICES, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the University of Toronto said.

There is growing research and concern about the mental health toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, particularly among the younger population.