Two new studies supported by the Institute for Pandemics (IfP) show that the implementation of non-pharmaceutical public health measures were associated with increased mental health visits for mothers with young children, young women, and adolescent girls.
As a response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world imposed public health measures to reduce viral transmission, including stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, and school closures. Such interventions raised concerns about their potential lasting impact on the mental health of individuals, especially in vulnerable and at-risk populations.
Specific populations of concern were mothers, young women, and adolescent girls. Previous research has demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a larger impact on the mental health of women compared to that of men.
Both studies compared rates of doctor visits for mental health care in the pre-pandemic period from March 2016 to March 2020 to rates during the pandemic from April 2020 to November 2021.
The first, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) Open, found a rapid increase in doctor visits by mothers of young children for mental health care during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, with most of the care for mood, anxiety, and depressive disorders, and alcohol and substance abuse.
In the second study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open, the team found an increase in doctor visits for women aged 14 to 24 for mental health care, largely driven by care for mood, anxiety, and depressive disorders. Additionally, there was an increase in hospital visits for eating disorders for women aged 14 to 19. There was no increase in doctor visits or hospitalizations for boys or young men.
“Our research raises concerns about the mental health impacts of public health measures on vulnerable women,” says Geoffrey Anderson, a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) and lead of the Pandemic Recovery theme for IfP.
“We need to address these impacts as a key part of any effective and equitable pandemic recovery strategy and we need to pay more attention to these consequences in future public health crises”.