@article{ref1,
title="Impact of COVID-19 on acute care hospitalizations for suicidality",
journal="Hospital pediatrics",
year="2024",
author="Dellazoppa, Alicia and Porada, Kelsey and Zaspel, Jennifer A. and Bourgeois, Shay and Vepraskas, Sarah H.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic contributed to the public health crisis for pediatric mental health. We characterized our local patient population presenting with suicidality or suicide attempts before and after the pandemic by examining: 1. frequencies of hospitalizations for suicidality to determine whether they differed by age, legal sex, race and ethnicity, or socioeconomic status; 2. average length of stay and discharge disposition; 3. 7-, 30-, and 365-day reutilization rates; and 4. admission trends during COVID-19 surges. <br><br>METHODS: Retrospective data between March 2018 and March 2022 was analyzed, including patients ages 10 to 17 years hospitalized for either suicidality or a suicide attempt at 1 freestanding tertiary care pediatric medical hospital in the Midwest. Encounters were divided into 2 categories on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic: &quot;Prelockdown&quot; (March 1, 2018-March 12, 2020) and &quot;postlockdown&quot; (March 13, 2020-March 31, 2022). Patients were limited to 1 presentation pre- and postlockdown. We analyzed frequencies using means and SDs, categorical data using χ2 and Fisher's exact tests, and continuous data with t tests. <br><br>RESULTS: A total of 1017 encounters were included, stratified into pre- and postlockdown groups for analysis (909 encounters, 889 unique patients). There was a significant difference in 365-day reutilization pre- and postlockdown when analyzing re-presentation to the emergency department (P =.025) and hospital readmission (P =.006). Admissions incrementally increased after the COVID-19 alpha variants in September 2020 and again after the delta variant in August 2021. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic further intensified the already critical issue of pediatric mental health, demonstrating increased reutilization in the year after their initial presentation and an increase in admissions after the alpha variant.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2154-1663",
doi="10.1542/hpeds.2023-007666",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/hpeds.2023-007666"
}