WHAT’S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among children and adolescents.

Mental health related emergency department visits were increasing nationally before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: We show that there was a continuous increase in emergency department visits coded for suicidal ideation for youth in Illinois, with a spike in visits in 2019 before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and a subsequent surge in hospitalizations through 2021.

Visits to an emergency department (ED) for suicidal ideation have spiked in recent years among children and teens in Illinois, a new study found. [American Academy of Pediatrics]

“Rapidly rising hospital use may reflect worsening mental illness and continued difficulty in accessing low cost, high-quality outpatient mental health services,” authors from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine wrote in “Trends in Suicidal Ideation-Related Emergency Department Visits for Youth in Illinois: 2016 — 2021” (Brewer AG, et al. Pediatrics. Nov. 14, 2022).

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