Yahoo Autos Study shows mental health hospitalizations for children increased 25% in 10 years
Mental health concerns accounted for more than 25% of hospital days for children and adolescents in 2019, according to an article published by the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday.
The study, led by researchers from Dartmouth, found that about 1 in 6 youths had a mental health condition, as of 2019.
The researchers reported that “19.7% of mental health hospitalizations were experienced by children with diagnoses in four or more unique mental health disorder groups, increasing significantly to 42.4% in 2019.”
The study quotes that year’s National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, finding that for children and youths ages 3-17, suicide was the second leading cause of death. It was estimated 18.8% of youths seriously considered suicide the previous year.
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Mental health hospitalizations with an attempted suicide or self-injury among children ages 3-17 went from 3.5% in 2009 to 12.7% in 2019 — the rate more than tripling in a 10-year span.
Researchers used data collected from 2009-2019 using the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Disorders Classification System. This system “classifies child mental health disorders across coding systems and aligns with DSM-5 psychiatric diagnosis groups,” per the National Library of Medicine.
