The Medical, Mental, and Social Impacts on Adolescents from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose of ReviewThis paper will review the impacts of the COVID pandemic on adolescents. This pandemic has had profound effects on the medical, mental, and social domains of adolescents throughout the world.Recent FindingsWorldwide, over ten million children and adolescents lost a parent or caregiver to the disease. Remote learning, lockdowns, and other restrictions led to increases in adolescents with obesity. Rising numbers of adolescents with depression, eating disorders, or suicidal thinking flooded the emergency rooms of hospitals. Learning suffered especially in resource-limited schools. Increased social media usage led to further worries and fears of the pandemic as well as problematic internet use while displacing adolescents' physical activities and sleep. Racism and food insecurity appeared to increase. One technological breakthrough due to the pandemic was telemedicine that allowed clinicians to establish and continue care for most adolescents.This review examines the profound effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the lives of adolescents throughout the world. In particular, this paper identifies the impacts on adolescents in the medical, mental, and social realms of their lives.