Sigh syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic: Is it a signal of the mental health status of Chinese children and adolescents?

BACKGROUND: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese children and adolescents have been greatly affected by the strict social isolation policies, which will undoubtedly cause psychological problems. We aimed to investigate the mental health status of Chinese children and adolescents, and provided some considerations of the contributing factors and the coping strategy. METHOD: We investigated the disease composition ratio of sigh syndrome in the pediatric outpatient clinic in Chengdu after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreak mitigation. We also analyzed and compared the annual changing trends in the incidence of sigh syndrome in 2020 with those from previous years. RESULTS: The composition ratio of sigh syndrome increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The highest incidence was in March 2020, which then decreased gradually over the next few months, then increased again in June 2020 (P<0.05). And the 4–7 years old was the age group with a high incidence of sigh syndrome, and 5 years old had the highest incidence. CONCLUSIONS: The mental health status of children and adolescents changed significantly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We should also pay attention to the psychological problems caused by returning to school after the epidemic has eased.