Zwicker told CBC Radio s
Ottawa Morning pediatricians are even worried about the pandemic s potential impact on the cognitive development of younger children. Part of learning speech, for example, is to see how other people talk and how their lips move, she said. All the masks that we re wearing might be affecting that.
Dr. Kelley Zwicker is founder of Ottawa Community Pediatricians Network and a mother of four young children.(Rohit Saxena)
Then there are the physical symptoms of social malnutrition. They ve been gaining weight because they re less physically active, said Zwicker. In other cases, pediatricians are seeing the opposite effect. Their weight is going down. We re seeing more cases of eating disorders.
Doctors worry social malnutrition is affecting kids as emergency visits rise – Fort Frances Times
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Toronto COVID field hospital and MP in his birthday suit: In The News for April 15
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Posted: Apr 14, 2021 8:47 PM ET | Last Updated: April 15
Children leave school on Apr. 6, 2021, after Toronto Public Health ordered all schools in the city to close amidst a surge in COVID-19 cases in Toronto. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Ontario doctors say some children and teenagers are suffering from social malnutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic because they are physically isolated from their peers due to provincial restrictions.
Dr. Saba Merchant, a pediatrician based in Vaughan, Ont., said she has seen significant changes in children s lives since the pandemic hit Ontario more than a year ago. Children have been unable at times to attend day care, school and extracurricular activities and that has meant a disruption in routines and structure. All of the changes have led to social isolation, she said.
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The Ontario Medical Association says it’s “troubled” by findings regarding children’s mental health during the pandemic, including a stark increase in intentional ingestion-related emergency room visits from teenagers over the last year.
Dr. Daniel Rosenfield, a pediatric emergency specialist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, says his emergency department saw “approximately 25 per cent” increase in those types of visits, which are sometimes indicative of suicide attempts, in 2020 compared to 2019.