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School of Health Sciences

Secondary health impact of COVID-19 containment measures in children and young adults

Literature Screening for SSPH+ and FOPH

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global public health crisis touching the whole population in different ways. Since the beginning of the pandemic containment, measures and policies have been implemented to curb the epidemics. Research indicates that containment measures impact health in the young population, leading to secondary health risks and adverse outcomes in children, adolescents and young adults.

As a large number of scientific publications on COVID-19-related topics are published daily, reflecting the rapid increase in evidence, the Institute of Public Health (ZHAW) was mandated by SSPH+, on request of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), to conduct a prospective narrative literature review on secondary health effects by containment policies and measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in children, adolescents and young adults in Europe for the FOPH.

Aim

The aim of the literature screening is to inform the FOPH and various users of public agencies, commissions or advisory boards in support of FOPH and its prime partners in the management of the crisis (e.g., Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force) on recent findings from the literature that may impact the strategy.

The reports focus on the impact of the pandemic and the containment measures on the physical and mental health, everyday activities (e. g. physical activity, screentime) and nutrition and bodyweight of children and youth aged 0 – 25 years. It also assesses the impact on vulnerable children, adolescents, and young adults. In addition, the reports include recommendations and best practices presented in the literature to manage and counter the impact of COVID-19.

Method

The literature search covers the period from January 1st, 2020 to July 15th, 2022. Three literature databases were accessed to identify relevant literature: PubMed, PsycInfo and Embase. For the scientific literature prior to the start of the project, existing results of a systematic literature search by the EUPHA section Child and Adolescent Public Health directorate (CAPH) with the same outcomes and exposure in the age-group 0 – 18 years for the time from January 1st, 2020 – mid-February 2021 were included. Further, additional publications by Swiss stakeholders and grey literature presenting primary data and new evidence from Switzerland is included. Researchers in Switzerland were asked to add contacts, projects and (planned) publications on the topic to this online-list to get an further overview of the current status and an outlook on future research.

Reports

The results are summarized in periodic reports. All reports are accessible on the FOPH homepage.

Project organisation