Study reveals rise in emergency room visits for suicidal children

According to a study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the number of suicidal children visiting emergency rooms has “spiked in recent years.” The study, published Monday, analyzed data on 205 Illinois hospitals from January 2016 to June 2021.

“[Emergency room] visits for suicidal ideation rose 59% when looking at a 22-month period in 2019-’21 compared to the same amount of time in 2016-’17, with sharp spikes in the fall of 2019 and fall of 2020,” AAP said in a news article. “From the fall of 2019 to the fall of 2020, monthly inpatient hospitalization among youths reporting suicidal ideation rose 57%. Authors said this may have been due to patients delaying care early in the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Study co-author Dr. Audrey Brewer said the true numbers are probably much higher than what the study found, because not all children who may be suicidal go to the emergency room. While the study was based in Illinois, experts believe the problem is not unique to any one state.

“Rapidly increasing suicide rates among children are a major public health concern in the United States,” the authors of the study wrote. “Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among United States youth aged 10 to 19 years. Suicide death rates among children have increased by more than 50% over the past 2 decades.”

The Biden administration noticed the trend and declared America’s youth as “facing an unprecedented mental health crisis.” Last month, the AAP led a letter to President Joe Biden with more than 140 state and national organizations, urging the administration to declare the crisis a federal national emergency.

“Even before the pandemic, rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts among youth were on the rise,” the White House said in a July fact sheet. “The pandemic exacerbated those issues, disrupting learning, relationships, and routines and increasing isolation – especially among our nation’s young people.”

CNN contributed to this report.