Depression, anxiety symptoms up in athletes

Student-athletes are showing more symptoms of anxiety and depression since schools closed and sports were canceled in mid-March due to Covid-19, according to a recently released University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health study.

Moderate to severe depression symptoms were at 33.4% in May compared to 9.7% over the last five years among 5,000 athletes, the study showed.

“We saw depression scores much higher than we thought we’d ever see. Three and a half times higher than before,” Timothy McGuine, senior scientist at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, said.

Moderate to severe anxiety scores reached 25%.

“That was stunning in itself,” McGuine said.

A Zoom meeting was held Tuesday morning during which McGuine and members of the WIAA’s Sport Medical Advisory Committee presented the study’s results to school personnel and media across the state. Nearly 300 people attended.

While physical activity dropped by 50%, the quality of life scores fell to numbers not much higher than those registered by people who have chronic diseases or childhood cancer, McGuine said.

“We’ve never seen this type of score drop in high school athletes,” he said.

The benefits and risks, he said, should be considered when debating prolonging school closures.

McGuine said medical providers will say that sports can serve as a way for people to get over a variety of health issues.

The study focused on student-athletes because the university had past student data.

“We thought if we collect data now we could compare it to those previous kids,” McGuine said.

A total of 3,243 high school athletes from 71 of the state’s 72 counties participated in the six to eight-minute online survey. Fifty-eight percent of respondents were female.

McGuine acknowledged that the cancellation of school and elimination of sports weren’t the only factors in teens’ mental and physical health. Parents’ job losses and domestic and social issues weren’t taken into account. Questions about drug and alcohol use weren’t allowed.

“This is a snapshot of these athletes and what we could control for,” he said. “This is going to be one piece of the puzzle.”

Regardless of cause, these issues now exist and could impact the cost of health care, he said.

“We know that schools play an important role for mental health services, especially for those in lower socioeconomic situations,” McGuine said.

WIAA Executive Director Dave Anderson said the organization is using the research to make decisions. Similar to its recently released guidance on summer activities, the WIAA will leave the decision to each district whether to hold fall sports. That could result in adjustments to tournaments.

“We need to recognize that some of the challenge of responding to the questions that all of us have is simply not avoidance,” Anderson said.