Increase in depression and anxiety disorder diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic in children and adolescents followed in pediatric practices in Germany

The coronavirus pandemic and related restrictions impacted the daily lives of children and youth, partly due to the closure of schools and the absence of outdoor activities. The aim of this study was to investigate, quantify, and critically discuss the effect of the pandemic and related restrictions on consultations pertaining to depression and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. This retrospective cross-sectional study was based on medical record data from the Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA) and included all children and adolescents aged 2–17 years with at least one visit to one of 168 German pediatric practices between April 2019 and December 2019 (n = 454,741) or between April 2020 and December 2020 (n = 417,979). The number of children and adolescents with depression and anxiety disorder diagnoses per practice and the prevalence of these diagnoses were compared for April 2020–December 2020 versus April 2019–December 2019. The number of children and adolescents with depression and anxiety diagnoses per practice increased in April 2020–December 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 (anxiety: + 9%, depression: + 12%). The increase was much greater in girls than in boys (anxiety: + 13% vs. + 5%; depression + 19% vs. + 1%). The prevalence of anxiety disorder increased from 0.31 to 0.59% (p < 0.001), and that of depression from 0.23 to 0.47% (p < 0.001). The biggest increases were observed for girls (anxiety from 0.35 to 0.72% (+ 106%, p < 0.001), depression from 0.28 to 0.72% (+ 132%, p < 0.001). This study shows an increase in the number of pediatric diagnoses of depression and anxiety disorders in the pandemic year 2020 compared to the previous year.