LAUSR

COVID-19 has been a distressing event that has significantly affected US health care delivery and well-being, with secondary effects on the economy and livelihood of many. Less attention has been paid to the impacts of COVID-19 on youth. The pandemic may have affected youth in a variety of ways, including disrupting consistent routines, worsening familial distress, influencing youth identity formation, and creating social disconnectedness. The downstream negative psychological effects include a rise in posttraumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger.1-3 Furthermore, there has been a rise in family violence and a decrease in child and parent wellbeing as schools transitioned to the virtual environment.4,5 At particular risk for poorer psychosocial outcomes are youth with chronic physical illness, eating disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and significant mental illness.6-9 Although there are reports of an increased proportion of pediatric mental health visits to emergency departments,10 there are no known studies quantifying changes in pediatric psychiatry consultation in the inpatient medical setting. This study describes one hospital’s psychiatric consultation rate from July 2020, when hospital admissions started to rise again to prepandemic seasonal levels, through January 2021 relative to previous years and compared with total hospital volumes.