516 - An epidemic within a pandemic: Escalating child mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic

Poster Number: 516
Publication Number: 516.422

Marie E. Heffernan, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Carly G. Menker, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Great Neck, NY, United States; Anne Bendelow, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Tracie L. Smith, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Michelle L. Macy, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Colleen Cicchetti, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Matthew M. Davis, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Background: Youth mental healthcare needs have increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, straining an already stressed pediatric mental healthcare system.

Objective: To understand how child mental health symptoms are associated with child and family factors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/Methods: Data were collected from May-July 2021 through the Voices of Child Health in Chicago Parent Panel Survey, a longitudinal survey administered tri-annually via web and phone to parents from all 77 neighborhoods in Chicago. Parents with at least one child under age 18 in the household were eligible. This study focuses on parental responses to a multiple response question: “Is your child having any of the following symptoms (listed in Table 1) more often over the last 6 months compared with before?” Parents self-identified race/ethnicity and other demographics. Chi-square tests and logistic regression examined whether having one or more increasing mental health symptoms differed by child and family factors. Data are weighted to be representative of the parent population in Chicago.

Results: Responses were obtained from 1,399 parents about 2,361 children between 4-17 years old (41% Latinx, 20% Black, 26% White, and 13% Asian/Other). Nearly half (47%) of children exhibited an increase in at least one mental health symptom. The most common symptoms were: difficulty concentrating (18%), feeling anxious (18%), and feeling sad (16%). Two variables were significant predictors of an increase in one or more mental health symptoms in bivariate and multivariable analyses: child race/ethnicity and having a household COVID-19 case. White children were most likely to exhibit an increase in mental health symptoms (55%), followed by Latinx (52%), Asian/Other (40%), and Black children (37%) (Table 2). Children with a household COVID-19 case (vs. none) were more likely to have increased mental health symptoms (61% vs. 39%, p < .001). In adjusted analyses, White race/ethnicity and having a household COVID-19 case were associated with greater odds of increased mental health symptoms (Table 3).Conclusion(s): With nearly half of the children in this sample displaying increasing mental health symptoms at the end of a year with hybrid and remote learning and prior to COVID-19 vaccines being available to all children, the present findings highlight the most prominent child mental health symptoms that have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic continues to evolve, it is critical to develop solutions to get children the mental healthcare they need.
Table 1. Mental health symptom response options and proportion of children who experienced an increase in each symptom over the last six months
Table 2. Proportion of children who experienced an increase in at least one mental health symptom over the previous six months, by child and family demographic factors