Pediatric emergency department visits for substance use by youths with or without chronic medical conditions increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the largest increase seen in those with chronic conditions, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. This suggests the need to improve hospital-based substance use care for these patients.
For their original investigation, the researchers sought to learn if youths with a chronic medical condition (this includes chronic conditions and complex chronic conditions) had more emergency department visits for substance use than youths without chronic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cohort study obtained data from 47 U.S. children’s hospital emergency departments that are part of the Pediatric Health Information System database between March 2018 and March 2022. The cohort included patients aged 10–18. Emergency department visits for substance use among youth increased during COVID-19, especially among youth with chronic conditions. Youths with chronic conditions and youths with complex chronic conditions had 9 times and 4 times more visits to the emergency department for substance use, respectively, than youths without these conditions. “Our findings have important implications for clinical practice and highlight the need for universal substance use screening and intervention in pediatric emergency department settings and potentially other pediatric health care settings where youths, particularly those with chronic medical conditions, seek care,” said study lead author Faith Summersett Williams, PhD, a behavioral scientist in The Potocsnak Family Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Other authors of the study from Lurie Children’s are Robert Garofalo, MD, MPH, Division Head of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Lurie Children’s; Maria Rahmandar, MD, Attending Physician of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Lurie Children’s; and Lisa Kuhns, PhD, MPH, Research Professor of Pediatrics (Adolescent Medicine) at Feinberg School of Medicine.
Pediatric research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is conducted through Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute.
Article Citation
Summersett Williams F, Zaniletti I, Masonbrink AR, et al. Substance Use Emergency Department Visits Among Youths With Chronic Conditions During COVID-19. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(10):e2435059. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.35059
