Impact of Covid-19 over children and adolescents lives: a narrative review

Abstract

Objective: To review in the literature about the physical and emotional impact of Covid-19 over children and adolescents lives. Bibliographic review: show that in the current context of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there was a need for new strategies to ensure the care and people’s health, such as social distancing, the use of masks and hand sanitizers, washing hands, a new organization and adaptation of health services and services in general and relative pause in school activities for a while. All of these factors brought many consequences to people’s lives with regard to emotional, physical, social and work issues. These impacts affected enourmously children and adolescents’ lives. Final considerations: children and adolescent are more vulnerable to psychopathologies and digital and self-inflicted violence, gain weight, depression due to prolonged exposure to stressors, reduction in physical activities, overexposure to digital media and screens. However, children and adolescents who have already experienced situations of vulnerability, such as relationships considered to be troubled and promoters emotional issues with relatives, a scenario of food insecurity, social inequality and a history of psychopathologies, were even more negatively affected by measures of social distance.