Mental health-related emergency department visits were a significant driver of care demand in April, with anxiety-related visits accounting for nearly half of all tracked by the CDC.
The data comes from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program, which tracks mental health-related emergency department visits. The agency updates the dashboard monthly and reports rates per 100,000 ED visits to monitor trends in mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorders, trauma- and stressor-related disorders, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Here are five things to know:
- The rate increased from 5,129 mental health-related ED visits per 100,000 ED visits in January to 5,328 per 100,000 in April.
- Anxiety-related ED visits rose from 2,545 per 100,000 ED visits in January to 2,645 per 100,000 in April, an increase of 100 visits per 100,000.
- The rate climbed from 1,588 depression-related ED visits per 100,000 ED visits in January to 1,628 per 100,000 in April.
- Bipolar disorder-related ED visits rose from 450 per 100,000 ED visits in January to 464 per 100,000 in April, while trauma- and stressor-related disorder visits increased from 410 to 427 per 100,000.
- There were 412 schizophrenia spectrum disorder-related ED visits per 100,000 ED visits in January and 408 per 100,000 in April, making it the only major category that declined during the period.
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