Examining the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of clinically extremely vulnerable children

ADR Wales has published its latest Data Insight, which explores how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the mental health of children that are clinically extremely vulnerable or living with clinically extremely vulnerable people in Wales.

At the outset of the pandemic in March 2020, certain people were advised to remain home – a precaution named ‘shielding’. This was because these people were deemed clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) to severe illness or death from Covid-19.

The study therefore looked at how CEV children and children living with a CEV person used healthcare services for anxiety or depression in Wales from 2019-21. They compared this to children in the general population. The study found:

• In 2019-20, CEV children were almost twice as likely to have a record for anxiety or depression than children in the general population
• In 2020-21, CEV children were over three times more likely to have a record for anxiety or depression than children in the general population.
• Over this time, anxiety or depression increased only slightly amongst CEV children (from 4.17% to 4.22%), but declined amongst children in the general population (from 2.19% to 1.39%).

However, the research team concluded that the reported higher risk for having anxiety or depression among CEV children did not represent an actual marked increase in them seeking healthcare services for anxiety or depression. Rather, it was largely driven by children in the general population presenting less in healthcare services during the period.

Read the full Data Insight.

This article was originally published on the ADR UK Wales website.