Hospitalizations Jump 1,217 Percent: Experts Call Crisis
The authors of the study published in the latest issue of the scientific journal "Journal of Affective Disorders" pointed out that the drastic increase in the number of hospitalizations concerned people aged 11-18, mainly girls.
Researchers from the International University of La Rioja (UNIR) analyzed more than 9,800 hospital admissions for depressive symptoms in Spanish adolescents between 2000 and 2021.
They noted that while in 2000 only a few hundred teenagers were admitted to psychiatric wards in Spanish hospitals, by 2021 there were nearly 1,800. They indicated that adolescent girls were most susceptible to depression during the analyzed period. Among hospitalized teenagers, their percentage was 74.3%.
Researchers from La Rioja noted that in the first two decades of the 21st century, the average age of teenagers admitted to hospitals due to symptoms of depression was 16 years, and the average stay in a medical facility was 7 days.
Study coordinator Eduardo Gonzalez pointed out that with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the phenomenon of increasingly younger children being admitted to hospitals with depression began to intensify . This phenomenon intensified in 2021.
According to the study authors, the first significant increase in the number of hospitalized teenagers in the 21st century occurred in 2011, which researchers attribute to the consequences of the economic crisis in Europe that began in 2008.
"This may be related to certain social and cultural phenomena affecting young people, such as uncertainty about their personal, academic, or social future after the crisis," the researchers said, calling for urgent action by the Spanish authorities to prevent depression, including supporting schools in the early detection of psychological disorders in students.
They warned that the "massive and widespread use of social networks" also poses a danger to the mental health of young people .
- The constant increase in the admission of young people with depression to hospitals today proves the existence of a mental health problem that requires a rapid response - concluded the scientists from La Rioja.
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