Child Mental Health Claims Declined By 1.2% Per Month After COVID Closures Ended

After schools began reopening following the COVID-19 closures, the prevalence of students with a mental health diagnosis at some California schools that reopened declined by 1.2% per month compared to the prevalence at schools that remained remote, according to a recent analysis.

Researchers analyzed medical claims data for 185,735 school-age children in 24 California counties who were enrolled in a large private health plan. The analysis spanned data from March 2020 through June 2021. The claims included diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and related health care spending among school-aged children. The . . .