Kids with COVID had a 50% to 60% higher risk of depression, anxiety in 2021, researchers say

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: September 10, 2025
By Mary Van Beusekom

Relative to uninfected children, COVID-19 patients aged 8 to 17 years were at a 49% higher risk for new-onset depression or anxiety in 2021, rising to 59% in those with severe illness, according to a University of Utah study published this week in PLOS One.

The researchers mined the Utah All Payers Claims Database to explore the link between COVID-19 infection, illness severity, and risk of depression and anxiety among 154,565 school-aged youth who had private insurance or Medicaid coverage. The average participant age was 10.8 years in 2019, when the study period began, and 48% were girls.

Key contributors to mental illness among children include the pandemic’s direct impacts on daily life, such as school closures, isolation from peers, and disrupted family routines, the authors noted.

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Quebec

Analysis: Quebec in midst of new COVID-19 summer wave

Published July 7, 2024

Published by: Montreal Gazette
Published on: July 7, 2024
By Aaron Derfel

Quebec is now witnessing — as is the case across North America — an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations, reinforcing the notion that SARS-CoV-2 is still not yet a fully seasonal virus and sending vaccine manufacturers racing to develop COVID shots for this fall that will guard against the latest sub-variants.

The province reported a total of 671 hospitalizations with and for COVID-19 as of July 5. That’s up from a low of 400 such hospitalizations on April 20 in Quebec. The number of patients in emergency rooms testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 is also rising, according to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).

More and more Quebecers are testing positive for COVID-19, with the percentage rising to 12.9 per cent as of June 30, according to the INSPQ. That this is occurring during summer suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is still far from a seasonal virus like the flu, a view supported by doctors and experts in the field.

“COVID is not over,” Dr. Susan Kuo, a British Columbia family physician, told the CBC on Friday. “This is the summer. It’s July. It’s not usually a time that we’re seeing so many people that are sick. What this tells us is that COVID is not a seasonal virus.”

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air pollution

Air Pollution Is Really Dangerous, Even More New Evidence Shows

Published November 23, 2023

Published by: Scientific American
Published on: December 1, 2023
By Jesse Greenspan

PM_2.5 particles are tiny enough to enter the bloodstream and lodge in the lungs, where they contribute to respiratory problems such as asthma. They also can prompt heart attacks and strokes. And they have been linked to diabetes, obesity and dementia and may exacerbate COVID.

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long COVID

Existential crisis: how long COVID patients helped us understand what it’s like to lose your sense of identity and purpose in life

Published August 24, 2023

Published by: The Conversation
Published on: August 24, 2023
By Chao Fang, JD Carpentieri and Sarah Akhtar Baz

This isn’t who I am – I don’t recognise myself. I panic if I get on the Tube and there’s no seat. It’s a very strange feeling, like not being in your own body. My fear is I’ll never really get better, and that I’m always going to be at 70% of my former self.

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mental health

“I don’t feel protected”: How a lack of COVID-19 protections is impacting mental health

Published December 15, 2022

Published by: The Georgia Straight
Published on: December 15, 2022
By V.S. Wells

People who are COVID-aware or at high risk discuss the mental health burden of staying safe.

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Tag: mental health