Emergency department visits and hospital admissions for suicidal ideation, self-poisoning and self-harm among adolescents in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic

The incidence of adolescent Exposure mental health visits to emergency departments was increasing The exposure occurred in March 2020, when the World Health before the pandemic.15 Understanding which demographics Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic and the Public accounted for increased health care use during the pandemic Health Agency of Canada implemented guidance to reduce at a national. [...] We sought to test the hypothesis that the observed percent- age of emergency department visits and admissions for suicidal Outcomes ideation, self-poisoning and self-harm increased during the The primary and secondary outcomes were the percentage of COVID-19 pandemic relative to all-cause visits, compared with emergency department visits and hospital admissions, the expected percentage based on th. [...] immediate decrease of 2624 (95% CI –4306 to –942) emergency The percentage of emergency department visits for the com- department visits in the first quarter of the pandemic period, posite outcome, relative to all-cause visits, was higher among compared with the last quarter of the prepandemic period. [...] ¶Immediate stepwise change from the last quarter of the prepandemic period to the first quarter of the pandemic period in the percentage of the outcome event. [...] ¶Immediate stepwise change from the last quarter of the prepandemic period to the first quarter of the pandemic period in percentage of outcome event.