Sharp increase in mental disorders in girls and young women

The number of hospital admissions due to mental disorders increased by 26 percent in the Corona years 2020 and 2021 among girls and young women between the ages of 10 and 24. The Federal Bureau of Statistics (FSO) speaks of an “unprecedented increase”.

Between 2020 and 2021, the increase in 10 to 14-year-old girls was even 52 percent, the BFS announced on Monday. For the first time, mental disorders were also the most common reason for hospitalization in the 10 to 24 age group (19,532 cases).

With an increase of 6 percent, the increase in hospital admissions for these reasons was significantly lower among young men in this age group than among young women. According to this, 60 percent of 10- to 24-year-olds hospitalized for mental disorders in 2021 were young women. Hospital stays lasted an average of 27 days.

According to the BFS analysis, hospital admissions for attempted suicide rose 26 percent in the 10 to 24 age group, and in-hospital outpatient psychiatric services rose 19 percent. The second most common reason for hospitalization was injuries (19,243 cases).

The number of hospital admissions for mental disorders among young people aged 10 to 24 will increase by 4 percent in 2020 and by 17 percent in 2021.

In 2020, the first year of the Covid 19 pandemic, depression was the most common condition among young women (+14 percent). According to the BFS, young men had disorders caused by psychotropic substances (+8 percent). In 2021, affective disorders would also have increased sharply among young men (+14 percent).

There was an extraordinary +42 percent increase in young women. According to the BFS, especially neurotic disorders associated with stressors will increase in 2021 (+22 percent in young women, +13 percent in young men). The category of other mental disorders such as personality disorders and eating disorders recorded a 24 percent increase in young women in 2021, it was said.

In 2021, 3124 patients aged 10 to 24 were hospitalized for self-harm or attempted suicide, representing a 26 percent increase from 2020. 70 percent of them were girls and young women, especially 15- to 19- year-old women, as the FSO wrote.

However, the group of 10 to 14-year-old girls showed the largest increase (+60 percent). With 458 cases in 2021, girls in this age group were eleven times more likely to be hospitalized for this reason than boys of the same age.

In 2021, the number of new hospital admissions for mental behavioral disorders was 29 percent higher than the year before. The average annual increase between 2016 and 2020 was 6 percent. (aeg/sda)