Consequences of the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on child and adolescent mental, psychosocial, and physical health: A scoping review and interactive evidence map.
Liza Bialy, Sarah A Elliott, Alison Melton and 4 others
PMID 38503453WHAT IT FOUND
Across 826 pandemic articles, anxiety, depression, stress, relationship concerns, and isolation were the most commonly reported child and adolescent outcomes.
Physical harms and tested treatments were rare, so this maps what has been studied, not proven interventions.
Key findings
01826 articles met inclusion criteria and were mapped; 88% reported at least one mental health outcome, especially anxiety, depression, and stress.
02Psychosocial outcomes were reported in 44% of articles, most often relationships with peers and family and loneliness.
03Physical consequences were reported in 11% of articles; among those, 84% examined abuse or violent discipline and 9% reported accidental poisonings.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only English-language peer-reviewed articles and guidelines or position statements were included. The search covered only May 2021 to April 2022, so it captured one year of a rapidly growing literature. The review did not examine intervention effectiveness or pandemic effects by gender, ethnicity, or age. Most included articles were cross-sectional studies collected while lockdowns were in effect, so they cannot show lasting effects. Specific disease or clinical categories were not searched as physical consequences, such as delayed diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis or appendicitis.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that pandemic restrictions caused these outcomes or that any treatment works. The review mapped how often articles reported anxiety, depression, stress, isolation, abuse, and service use, and it did not examine intervention effectiveness or effects by population characteristics.