COVID-19 and developmental psycho-affective consequences

This study examines all the children and adolescents who have sought help, without an organic objective cause, from the Emergency Room in the “G. Salesi” Maternal and Child Health Department at the Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria delle Marche of Ancona (Italy), between March and December 2020, when COVID-19 spread. Retrospectively, questions were asked about the internal dynamics and the potential increase on developmental mental illnesses in our region (Marche). The total sample, of 765 patients between the ages of 3 years to 15 years of age, was divided into 2 sub-samples for the year 2019 and 2020. During the two lockdowns of 2020, a 13.10% increase in access due to anxiety-depression and a 6.38% increase due to selfharming was found compared to 2019. There was also a 11.79% decrease in access due to externalising symptoms, a 1.86% decrease due to abuse and a 7.84% decrease due to mistreatment. A constellation of somatoform symptoms also emerged, which were probably reflecting the syndromic presentation of COVID-19 in adults. In fact the following increased: abdominal pain (7.26%); breathing difficulties (1.79%); coughing (1.02%); chest pain (0.95%); itching (0.17%).