Mental illnesses and behavioral disorders were the most common cause of inpatient hospital treatment for children and adolescents in the Corona year 2021. Almost 81,000 of the approximately 427,600 patients aged ten to 17 years were treated as inpatients, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. This corresponds to 19 percent of all hospital treatments in this age group. For comparison: in adults aged 18 and over, the diagnosis accounted for six percent of the 15.3 million cases.
Among children and adolescents, girls sought help in the hospital more often because of mental illnesses and behavioral disorders: while in 2021 almost a quarter (24 percent) of the cases of treatment were attributable to this diagnosis, the figure for boys was 13 percent.
“Children and adolescents with mental illnesses are most often treated in hospital for depression,” the statisticians explained. According to this, around 21,900 of the 10 to 17 year olds were in hospital for so-called depressive episodes. Mental illnesses and behavioral disorders also include those caused by alcohol. “They include, among other things, the consequences of alcohol abuse and acute alcohol poisoning such as dependence or withdrawal syndrome,” it said.
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Among mental illnesses and behavioral disorders, alcohol-related illnesses were the second most common diagnosis for children and adolescents, with almost 9,300 cases treated. In the case of a good 7,700 of the 10 to 17-year-olds treated for mental illness and behavioral disorders, the treatment also focused on reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders. “These can be caused by the occurrence of exceptionally stressful life events or by special changes in life that lead to a persistently unpleasant situation,” according to the statisticians.