350,000 Children and Adolescents Received Mental Health Treatment for ADHD and Depression

Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service Statistics
Annual Increase in Pediatric and Adolescent Mental Health Treatments

Last year, the number of children and adolescents (aged 0 to 18) who received medical treatment for mental health issues reached approximately 350,000, marking an increase of more than 76% over four years.

According to the "Statistics on Diseases and Medical Practices in Daily Life" published by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on December 28, the number of pediatric and adolescent patients with mental health disorders increased annually from 198,384 in 2020 to 311,365 in 2023, surpassing 300,000 for the first time. Last year, the figure rose further to 350,337, representing a 76.6% increase compared to 2020.

The largest group among males was those aged 7 to 12 (105,288), while among females, the largest group was those aged 13 to 18 (94,784).

The most common mental health disorders for which children and adolescents received treatment were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression. In the 0 to 6 age group, ADHD was the most prevalent with 11,521 patients, followed by pervasive developmental disorders (9,874), specific developmental disorders of speech and language (6,005), other behavioral and emotional disorders (2,495), and tic disorders (2,484).

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Among those aged 7 to 12, ADHD was again the most common with 86,797 patients, followed by pervasive developmental disorders (13,065), tic disorders (12,143), and depression (7,858).

In the 13 to 18 age group, depression was the most prevalent with 60,896 patients, followed by ADHD with 54,311. Other anxiety disorders accounted for 26,433 cases, and reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders accounted for 17,092 cases.

The number of children and adolescents who received treatment for cancer was 7,428, a 4.0% decrease compared to 2020. Last year, the highest number of cancer patients among children and adolescents was found in the 13 to 18 age group for both males and females. The most common cancers were lymphoblastic leukemia, malignant neoplasms of the brain, and myeloid leukemia.

In contrast, last year, 54,201 children and adolescents received treatment for rare and severe intractable diseases, a 21.2% increase from 44,714 in 2020. By disease, the most common were congenital malformation syndromes (3,559), Crohn's disease and localized enteritis (3,432), and epilepsy (3,379).

Last year, the number of children and adolescents who visited the emergency room was 624,946, a 7.3% increase from 582,344 in 2020. The largest number of visits was to emergency rooms in general hospitals (440,963), followed by tertiary general hospitals (167,434) and hospitals (35,964).

The most common diagnosis for children and adolescents in the emergency room was "other and unspecified fever" (69,170 cases). This was followed by "other and unspecified gastroenteritis and colitis of infectious and unspecified origin" (57,088 cases), and abdominal and pelvic pain (36,311 cases).