Consequences of the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on child and adolescent mental, psychosocial, and physical health: A scoping review and interactive evidence map

"Methods

Between May 2021 and April 2022, we identified peer-reviewed literature reporting the unintended effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescents’ mental, psychosocial, and physical health...
 
Discussion

The aim of this review was to synthesize current evidence related to the unintended effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant restrictions on children’s and adolescents’ mental, psychosocial, and physical health. Published evidence on this topic is vast, complex, and heterogeneous in nature. A scoping review approach enabled us to map available evidence from 826 peer-reviewed articles and highlights health concerns where future research efforts should be directed...

By far, the most commonly reported topic related to children’s and adolescents’ mental health was the impact of COVID-19 lockdown orders. Although we did not collect data on the results of the outcomes included in the articles, others have reported that lockdowns have had significant impact on children’s and adolescents’ mental health (Bussières et al., 2021; Theberath et al., 2022). Specifically, mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, and stress were reported most frequently. These findings are consistent with a recent systematic review of survey studies which investigated how children’s and adolescents’ mental health has been impacted by the pandemic (anxiety, depression, stress, and tension were the most observed symptoms) (Bussières et al., 2021). Regarding psychosocial impacts, most frequently reported outcomes included children’s and adolescents’ relationships with their parents and peers, and feelings of social isolation/loneliness... Only a small number of studies presented physical consequences as an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic, including abuse or violent discipline that children and adolescents faced, and poisonings. While a review by Marmor et al. (2023) demonstrated an increased risk of abuse for children, there are still many unknowns regarding mistreatment of children during the pandemic and its long-term impact...

It is evident that restrictions (e.g., lockdowns, social distancing, and school closures) put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 strained children’s and adolescents’ ability to cope, which impacted their mental health and well-being (Scott et al., 2021), as well as their relationships with family and peers (Browne et al., 2021; Hussong et al., 2022). Early in the COVID-19 pandemic Canadian (Gaucher et al., 2021) and American (Bowden et al., 2022) pediatric emergency physicians expressed concerns about an increase in mental health challenges if the pandemic continued over an extended length of time. We are now finding longitudinal evidence suggesting the prevalence of mental health concerns in children and adolescents has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began (Deng et al., 2023). Specifically, a review including a large sample of adolescents found that symptoms of depression increased significantly for those under lockdown restrictions (Barendse et al., 2023)."