Adolescents, Drugs, and COVID-19: Special Challenges During the Pandemic

Bhatia, Gayatri; Chatterjee, Biswadip; Dhawan, Anju

doi:10.1177/0253717621988998

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…A study on substance use among 1,054 Canadian adolescents reported increase in alcohol and cannabis use, with significantly ignoring the social distancing and other COVID-related precautions. 35, 36…”

Section: Etiology and Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Substance Use Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Nebhinani¹,

Singh²,

Mamta

2022

Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental H

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Background: Exposure to addictive substances commonly occurs during childhood and adolescence and it adds more adverse consequences in life course. However, evidence is scarce for management of substance use disorders in this population. Methods: We searched for published literature of previous 10 years on PubMed, Cochrane database, and Google Scholar until June 2021. The literature found relevant was organized into various subheadings like epidemiology, etiology, screening, and prevention and treatment. Results: Alcohol and tobacco remain the most commonly used substances amongst children and adolescents the world over, closely followed by cannabis. High-risk populations including street children are most severely afflicted. There are a multitude of risk factors ranging from biological to psychosocial, most importantly parental drug use and adverse experience in childhood. Public health initiatives including school, family, and community interventions have shown promising results. Early screening for substance use is beneficial with special attention on externalizing disorders. Studies on pharmacological treatment remain sparse while psychosocial interventions employing different modalities such as behavioural- and contingency-related techniques have shown initial promise. Conclusions: Adolescents and children are more prone to substance use and associated risk-taking behavior. There is a vital need for well-designed studies for assessing risk and protective factors, comprehensive screening, prevention, and intervention modalities in children and adolescents including street children and other high-risk population.

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Section: Etiology and Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pediatricians, primary health-care professionals, general physicians, or other professionals who come in contact with children and adolescents should keep a close watch on their psychosocial milieu and developmental issues, which may contribute to the risk of substance use. 36…”

Section: Behavior Change Communication (Bcc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Substance Use Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Nebhinani¹,

Singh²,

Mamta

2022

Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental H

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Given the stress and increased mental health problems among youth [ 10 ], the COVID-19 pandemic has raised some concerns regarding adolescent substance use, although evidence is limited [ 11 , 12 ]. One study of Canadian adolescents reported the proportion of adolescents who reported one or more substance-using days within a period of three weeks pre-COVID compared to 3 weeks during COVID increased significantly from 0.76 to 0.96 (p = 0.02) and from 0.94 to 1.10 (p = 0.01) for alcohol and marijuana, respectively [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a brief, communication-based, substance use preventive intervention for parents of adolescents: Protocol for the SUPPER Project (Substance Use Prevention Promoted by Eating family meals Regularly)

et al. 2022

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Background Substance use among adolescents in the U.S. is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes in the long-term. Universal youth-focused substance use prevention programs have demonstrated effectiveness but are often not sustainable due to the significant amount of time, effort, and resources required. We describe a trial protocol for a brief, low-participant-burden intervention to improve substance use-specific parent-child communication through the promotion of family meals and increased parental engagement. Methods This study is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial designed to assess the efficacy of a 13-week intervention. A total of 500 dyads of parents and their 5th-7th grade children are recruited from across Massachusetts. Dyads are randomized to the intervention or attention-control condition using block urn randomization, based on child grade, gender, and school. Parents/guardians in the substance use preventive intervention arm receive a short handbook, attend two meetings with an interventionist, and receive two SMS messages per week. Parents/guardians in the control arm receive the same dose but with content focused on nutrition, physical activity, and weight stigma. Participant dyads submit videos of family meals, audio recordings of prompted conversations, and quantitative surveys over an 18-month period (baseline, 3, 6, 12, 18 months post-intervention). The primary outcomes measure the quantity and quality of parent-child substance use conversations and proximal child indicators (i.e., substance use attitudes and expectancies, affiliation with substance-using peers, and intentions and willingness to use substances). The secondary outcome is child substance use initiation. Discussion This is a novel, brief, communication-focused intervention for parents/guardians that was designed to reduce participant burden. The intervention has the potential to improve parent-child engagement and communication and conversations about substance use specifically and decrease child substance use risk factors and substance use initiation. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03925220. Registered on 24 April 2019.

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“…As a result, children feel anxious and lonely, leading to psychologically unhealthy lives [ 9 ]. Eventually, these situations can lead to mental illnesses, such as suicide attempts and drug use [ 10 ]. However, despite these implications, there are few studies on this in pediatric patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Children Visiting Emergency Department for Mental Illness: A Multicenter Database Analysis from Korea

et al. 2022

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We aimed to identify changes in the proportion of pediatric emergency department (PED) visits due to mental illness during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This was a retrospective observational study of visits to the PED at six university hospitals from January 2017 to December 2020. We included children aged 5–17 years who were diagnosed with a mental illness. We used segmented regression analysis to identify the change in the proportion of patients with mental illness. A total of 845 patients were included in the analysis. After the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Korea, the number of PED visits significantly decreased by 560.8 patients per week (95% confidence interval (CI): −665.3 to −456.3, p < 0.001). However, the proportion of patients with mental illness increased significantly, by 0.37% per week (95% CI: 0.04% to 0.70%, p = 0.03), at this time point. Subgroup analyses revealed that emotional disorders significantly increased by 0.06% per month (95% CI: 0.02% to 0.09%, p < 0.001) during the pandemic. Our study revealed that an increased proportion of patients with mental illness visited the PED during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we identified that the proportion of emotional disorders continues to rise during this pandemic.

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Adolescents, Drugs, and COVID-19: Special Challenges During the Pandemic

Cited by 12 publications

References 21 publications

Substance Use Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Substance Use Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a brief, communication-based, substance use preventive intervention for parents of adolescents: Protocol for the SUPPER Project (Substance Use Prevention Promoted by Eating family meals Regularly)

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Children Visiting Emergency Department for Mental Illness: A Multicenter Database Analysis from Korea

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