Mental Health-Related Outpatient Visits Among Adolescents and Young Adults, 2006-2019

Concerns over the mental health of young people have been increasing over the past decade, especially with the rise in mental health burden seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining trends in mental health-related outpatient visits provides critical information to elucidate contributing factors, identify vulnerable populations, and inform strategies to address the mental health crisis.

To examine characteristics and trends in mental health-related outpatient visits and psychotropic medication use among US adolescents and young adults.

A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, an annual probability sample survey, was conducted from January 2006 to December 2019. Participants included adolescents (age 12-17 years) and young adults (age 18-24 years) with office-based outpatient visits in the US. Data were analyzed from March 1, 2023, to September 15, 2023.

Mental health-related outpatient visits were identified based on established sets of diagnostic codes for psychiatric disorders. Temporal trends in the annual proportion of mental health-related outpatient visits were assessed, including visits associated with use of psychotropic medications. Analyses were stratified by age and sex.

From 2006 to 2019, there were an estimated 1.1 billion outpatient visits by adolescents and young adults, of which 145.0 million (13.1%) were associated with a mental health condition (mean [SD] age, 18.4 [3.5] years; 74.0 million females [51.0%]). Mental health-related diagnoses were more prevalent among visits by male (16.8%) compared with female (10.9%) patients (P < .001). This difference was most pronounced among young adults, with 20.1% of visits associated with a psychiatric diagnosis among males vs 10.1% among females (P < .001). The proportion of mental health-related visits nearly doubled, from 8.9% in 2006 to 16.9% in 2019 (P < .001). Among all outpatient visits, 17.2% were associated with the prescription of at least 1 psychotropic medication, with significant increases from 12.8% to 22.4% by 2019 (P < .001).

In this cross-sectional study, there were substantial increases in mental health-related outpatient visits and use of psychotropic medications, with greater overall burden among male patients. These findings provide a baseline for understanding post-pandemic shifts and suggest that current treatment and prevention strategies will need to address preexisting psychiatric needs in addition to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.