Editorial: Global Widening of the Inequitable Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care Chasm During COVID-19

The long-standing and inequitable chasm between clinical need and child and adolescent mental health care has likely widened during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for children and adolescents in developing low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Internationally, the risk for suicidal behaviors among young people rose, while timely access to care worsened.(1) People in LMICs are envisioned to be precariously positioned within a perfect storm characterized by greater exposure to life-threatening COVID-19–related social determinants of health that also pose higher risk of new and recurrent mental disorders.(2) In this issue of the Journal, the study by Wong et al.(3) is the first international study to report a substantial rise in emergency department (ED) visits for any psychiatric disorder and self-harm among children and adolescents after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a retrospective cohort study design, ED visits for any psychiatric disorder and self-harm were compared between March-April of 2019 (prepandemic), 2020 (early pandemic), and 2021 (later pandemic), with the most recent time interval corresponding to the “third wave of the pandemic worldwide.” The total sample included 8,174 psychiatric ED visits to 62 emergency units in 25 countries, including developing countries with lower-middle, upper-middle, and high incomes as well as developed countries with upper-middle and high incomes. Of these, 3,865 psychiatric ED visits in 13 countries had data for all time intervals. Using the complete data, compared with March-April 2019, the rate of ED visits for any psychiatric disorder was lower in March-April 2020, consistent with the abrupt drop reported in the United States that broadly aligns with statewide school closures and shelter in place orders.(4,5) However, when comparing early pandemic with later pandemic time intervals matched by months, the rates for any psychiatric and self-harm ED visits were twice as high. Despite the sharp drop following the onset of the pandemic, when compared with the prepandemic time interval, the overall rates of ED visits for any psychiatric diagnosis and self-harm during the later pandemic were 50% and 70% higher, respectively. Girls were also at greater risk for self-harm ED visits following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with the prepandemic time interval matched by months, girls had almost twice the odds of a self-harm ED visit in March-April 2021. The international rise in self-harm ED visits likely driven by the increases among girls is also consistent with prior US studies.(4,5)