Antidepressant use among teen girls soared during pandemic: study

By Isobel Williams via SWNS

Antidepressant use among teenage girls soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, reveals new research.

The study shows that after March 2020 the rate of antidepressant usage in girls aged 12 to 17 increased 130 percent faster than pre-pandemic.

The rate also increased by 60 percent among young women aged 18 to 25, according to the findings.

Researchers analyzed data from a US national database reporting 92 percent of prescriptions dispensed in American pharmacies.

Results, published in the journal Pediatrics, showed that the increase in the antidepressant dispensing rate during the pandemic was driven by females.

In contrast to females, the antidepressant dispensing rate changed little among male young adults after March 2020 and declined among male adolescents.

The researchers believe that the likely explanation for this is that male adolescents may have skipped physicals and other health care visits during the pandemic, decreasing opportunities to diagnose and treat anxiety and depression.

They also note that the transition away from in-person learning may have also decreased opportunities for teachers and other school staff to detect mental health problems in male adolescents.

Lead author Dr. Kao Ping Chua, of the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, said: “Antidepressant dispensing to adolescents and young adults was already high and rising before March 2020.

“Our findings suggest these trends accelerated during the pandemic.

“Multiple studies suggest that rates of anxiety and depression among female adolescents increased during the pandemic.

"These studies, coupled with our findings, suggest the pandemic exacerbated a pre-existing mental health crisis in this group.”

Dr. Chua said the overall rise in antidepressant dispensing to adolescents and young adults may not only be related to worsened mental health, and long waitlists for psychotherapy, for example, may have also played a role.

He added: “In my primary care clinic, I often heard from patients and families that they were facing 6-9 month wait lists for therapy during the pandemic.

“In those situations, it didn’t make sense to withhold antidepressants and recommend a therapy-only approach.”