Latest Research from Clarify Health Institute Uncovers Key Trends and Diagnoses in Mental Health Crisis Among US Children and Young Adults

Hospitalizations for certain mental health conditions tripled from 2016-2022

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The number of mental health hospitalizations among children and young adults more than doubled from 2016 to 2022, with hospitalizations for anxiety and fear-related disorders, and feeding and eating disorders tripling according to new research titled "The Kids Are Not Alright: Mental Health Care Utilization Among Children and Young Adults, 2016-2022," from the Clarify Health Institute (CHI), the research arm of Clarify Health. The analysis is based on a national observational sample of health insurance claims for more than 24.5 million children and young adults up to 21 years old from 2016 to 2022.

"Our goal in doing this research is to provide a clearer picture of the mental health crisis among children and young adults," said Clarify Health Chief Analytics and Privacy Officer Niall Brennan. "These statistics are a stark reminder of the burden our youngest citizens are carrying, and we need to urgently dedicate resources to treating and reversing these issues."

Significant findings of the CHI's research include:

• 124% increase in mental health hospital admissions
• 250% increase in hospital admissions for anxiety and fear-related disorders
• 221% increase in hospital admissions for feeding and eating disorders
• 96% increase in hospital admissions for depressive disorders
• 45% increase in mental health emergency department (ED) visits, which includes a 74% increase in ED visits for suicidal ideation, attempts, and other intentional self-harm
• Higher rates of mental health inpatient admissions and ED visits among teenagers and young adults compared to younger children, with the most significant increases among girls aged 12-15

This is the second in a series of pediatric mental health research briefs from the Institute. Last September, CHI released "The Kids Are Not Alright: Pediatric Mental Health Care Utilization from 2016-2021," which looked at mental health utilization among children with a diagnosed mental illness. This latest research not only widens the lens on age by incorporating young adults, but also analyzes a more general population beyond just those with previously diagnosed conditions, further emphasizing the severity of the mental health crisis plaguing America’s youth. CHI also recently released research analyzing mental health trends among adults on the Clarify Health Blog as part of CHI’s ongoing body of work examining health trends in the US.

To access the full report, please visit: https://clarifyhealth.com/insights/institute/briefs/the-kids-are-not-alright-2023/

About the Clarify Health Institute

Clarify Health Institute is the research arm of Clarify Health, an enterprise analytics and value-based payments platform company. It leverages Clarify’s data assets, including claims, clinical, and social determinants of health data across 300 million patient journeys to shine a light on important healthcare issues and explore trends. It provides industry leaders, policymakers, academic researchers, the media, and the public unprecedented access to data-driven healthcare insights.

About Clarify Health

Clarify Health is an enterprise analytics and value-based payments platform company that empowers payers, providers, and life sciences companies to deliver better care, therapies, and outcomes with actionable patient journey insights. Clarify’s cloud-based business applications are built on the Clarify Atlas Platform, which maps 300M+ patient journeys to deliver 18B+ AI-powered predictions and surface insights with speed and precision. Clarify’s products illuminate actionable opportunities to drive growth, optimize networks, improve care delivery, manage population health, maximize value-based care performance, and bring therapies to market. With Clarify, healthcare organizations can leapfrog from point-solution and manual analytics to self-service, rapid generation of enterprise insights that light the path to better care and outcomes.