The Canadian Institute for Health Information’s latest data released Thursday sheds light on the toll the pandemic has taken on the mental health of children and young people across the country.
The latest data shows that hospitalizations for eating disorders among girls aged 10 to 17 increased by nearly 60 per cent since March of 2020. That is in direct contrast to the general decrease in hospitalizations and emergency room visits for most other conditions among the rest of the population.
CIHI also found that about twice as many girls and young women aged 5 to 24 were dispensed mood and anxiety medication compared with their male counterparts in 2020 and 2021.
Tracey Johnson, Director of Health System Analytics with CIHI, says about 17 per cent of children in Newfoundland and Labrador who are hospitalized have been so because of mental health while nationally it’s one in four.
However, the rate of hospitalization for children for eating disorders is about 30 per 100,000 in this province compared with 20 per 100,000 nationally—an increase of roughly 30 per cent over pre-pandemic levels.
Key findings