Children are showing more signs of anxiety, pediatric study shows
By Marin Wolf Globe Staff
Massachusetts families increasingly sought mental health care, especially for anxiety, during visits with their pediatricians, according to a new study that reviewed a decade’s worth of insurance claims data.
Researchers found that 9.7 percent of the state’s pediatric visits included a mental health diagnosis in the first quarter of 2023, up from 5.9 percent in the same period in 2014.
Visits for anxiety grew more than any other prominent mental health diagnosis. They accounted for 6.1 percent of pediatric visits in 2023, up from 1.7 percent in 2014.
Study authors were particularly struck by the extent to which mental health concerns were raised at primary care visits.
“[It’s] both surprising and consequential, in part because primary care is a setting that could very well address mental health issues, but where there isn’t always sufficient provider training or staffing to adequately address these needs,” said report author Megan Cole Brahim, an associate professor in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
The study, which included insurance claims for more than 1.8 million children and adolescents in Massachusetts, was published May 18 by local researchers in the journal JAMA Open Network.