Objectives
The primary aim is to investigate the psychological impact on adolescents over different periods during the pandemic by focusing on the prevalence of depression. A secondary aim analyzes if specific risk factors make adolescents more vulnerable to a positive depression screening.
Methods
A retrospective chart review reflecting virtual, hybrid, and in-person schooling (first surge: March 2020 to August 2020; second surge: September 2020 to August 2021; third surge: September 2021 to March 2022) was used to determine effects of different time periods and the associated depressive symptoms. The Patient Health Questionnaire Adapted for Adolescents (PHQ-A) scores measured depressive symptoms in adolescents and scores >10 indicated a positive depression screening. The population, 11 to 17 years of age, were taken from St. Luke’s University Health Network.
Results
A total of 3735 adolescents were screened for depression using the PHQ-A from March 2020 to March 2022. The median age was 15 years, and 54.8% were females. SPSS version 28 used χ2 tests to analyze depression among COVID-19–positive and –negative adolescents during COVID-19 surges. Due to multiple comparisons, Bonferroni corrections with p values <.01 were considered statistically significant. There was no statistical significance in depression when comparing COVID-19–positive to COVID-19–negative adolescents across all surges, but a significant difference in overall depression was found in surges 2 and 3 (p < .001) regardless of COVID-19 infection. We also compared gender differences in distribution of depression and saw a significant difference between males and females (p < .001).
Conclusions
The study provides empirical data on depressive symptoms in adolescents throughout different surges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study demonstrates that there was an increase in PHQ-A assessments over the course of the pandemic and an increase in positive PHQ-A scores during the second and third surges, and in the female population. There was no association between having a positive laboratory SARS-CoV-2 test result and depressive symptoms. Limitations include localized prevalence of the Northeast United States and unreported COVID-19 tests. The increase in depressive symptoms, regardless of SARS-CoV-2 infection status, is hypothesized to be due to the social toll of the pandemic.
DDD, SAC, RCR