Repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health: A matter of concern-A joint statement from EAP and ECPCP

L Reali; R G Nijman; A Hadjipanayis; S Del Torso; P Calamita; I Rafele; M Katz; S Barak; Z Grossman

doi:10.3389/fped.2022.1006596

Repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health: A matter of concern-A joint statement from EAP and ECPCP

Front Pediatr. 2022 Nov 28:10:1006596. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.1006596. eCollection 2022.

Authors

L Reali^{1

2

3

4}, R G Nijman^{5

6}, A Hadjipanayis^{7

8}, S Del Torso^{7

9}, P Calamita^{2

3

4

7}, I Rafele^{2

3

4

10

11}, M Katz^{2

3

4

12}, S Barak^{2

3

4

13}, Z Grossman^{6

14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Primary Care Pediatrician, Italian National Health System (INHS), ASL Rm1, Rome, Italy.
² Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Division of Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital - Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, London, United Kingdom.
³ Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Centre for Pediatrics and Child Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁵ European Society of Emergency Paediatrics, European Society of Emergency Medicine, Brussels, Belgium.
⁶ European Academy of Paediatrics (EAP), Brussels, Belgium.
⁷ Medical School, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁸ Department of Paediatrics, Larnaca General Hospital, Larnaca, Cyprus.
⁹ ChildCare WorldWide-CCWWItalia OdV, Padova, Italy.
¹⁰ Primary Care Pediatrician, Italian National Health System (INHS), ASL Rm 6, Rome, Italy.
¹¹ Primary Care Pediatrician, Italian National Health System (INHS), ASL Rm 3, Rome, Italy.
¹² Patient Safety Department, Meuhedet Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.
¹³ Dana Dwek Children's Hospital, Tamsc, Tel Aviv, Israel.
¹⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Adelson School of Medicine, Ariel University Pediatrics, Ariel, Israel.
¹⁵ Department of Pediatrics, Maccabi Health Care Services Pediatrics, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent rigid social distancing measures implemented, including school closures, have heavily impacted children's and adolescents' psychosocial wellbeing, and their mental health problems significantly increased. However, child and adolescent mental health were already a serious problem before the Pandemic all over the world. COVID-19 is not just a pandemic, it is a syndemic and mentally or socially disadvantaged children and adolescents are the most affected. Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and previous mental health issues are an additional worsening condition. Even though many countries have responded with decisive efforts to scale-up mental health services, a more integrated and community-based approach to mental health is required. EAP and ECPCP makes recommendations to all the stakeholders to take action to promote, protect and care for the mental health of a generation.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; anxiety; depression; lockdown; pandemic; psychological impact; stress; syndemic.