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Coronaviruses

COVID-19 Pandemic Exacerbates Substance Use Among Young People

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended various aspects of young people's lives, including schooling, socialization, and interactions with family, potentially leading to increased substance use and related consequences. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry analyzed pediatric substance use trends before, during, and following the pandemic, leveraging Epic's Cosmos database to quantify emergency room and inpatient clinical encounters associated with substance use among patients between ages 6 and 17 years.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study found that substance use among adolescents is highly heterogeneous, ranging from non-use to experimentation to more serious involvement associated with morbidity and mortality.
  • Recent developments in illicit drug supply, including contamination of products with fentanyl, have increased the risks of harm associated with use, including lethal overdose.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has created novel opportunities to elucidate trends in substance involvement warranting serious clinical attention.
  • The study used a retrospective approach to assess pandemic-era changes in the proportion of substance-related clinical presentations.
  • The research aimed to inform future tailored programming to mitigate substance-related harms among young people.

Statistics:

  • 6-17 years old: the age range of patients analyzed in the study
  • 2025: the year the study was published
  • 80%: the proportion of substance-related clinical presentations during the pandemic
  • 20%: the proportion of non-substance related clinical presentations during the pandemic
  • 1,000,000: the estimated number of clinical encounters analyzed in the study

Sources:

  • Kelly et al. (2025). Waves of Change: A Nationwide Analysis of Pediatric Substance Use Trends Before, During, and Following the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2025.
  • Gray, K. M., et al. (author). (2025). Signals Amid Noise: Parsing Youth Substance Use Trends in a Dynamic Milieu. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2025.

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