(NewsNation) — Boys may have disengaged from the health care system during the pandemic, leaving mental health issues undiagnosed and untreated.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of young people prescribed antidepressants has increased by nearly 64%, most of them women, according to a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The study was led by Dr. Kao-Ping Chua, a pediatrician at the University of Michigan’s Susan B. Meister Center for Child Health Evaluation and Research. In a recent interview with NBC, Chua said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescent males have stopped going to the doctor, missed medical checkups, and not participated in mental health treatment. Ta.
“For men, this could theoretically reflect improved mental health, but I have a hard time explaining that,” Chua told NBC. “Given the deterioration in everyone’s mental health, I expected that the boy’s antidepressant dosage would at least remain stable and not decrease.”
The number of people aged 12 to 25 who received at least one antidepressant prescription increased significantly between January 2016 and December 2022, the study found. This increase was driven primarily by prescription rates for female patients, despite a decrease in antidepressant prescription rates for male adolescents.
Research shows that the prevalence of depression and anxiety among people in this age group was already on the rise before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in March 2020.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, women are more often diagnosed with depression than men. Men are at higher risk of going untreated because they are less likely to recognize, talk about, or seek help for their negative emotions.
Research also shows higher rates of depression among members of the LGBTQ community.
