1. Changing trends in psychiatric emergency service admissions during the COVID-19 outbreak: Report from a worldwide epicentre
- Author
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Eduard Vieta, Gerard Anmella, Marta Gómez-Ramiro, Maria Sagué-Vilavella, Giovanna Fico, Andrea Murru, Isabella Pacchiarotti, Marina Garriga, Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei, Eduard Parellada, and Mireia Vázquez
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Admission ,03 medical and health sciences ,Social support ,symbols.namesake ,0302 clinical medicine ,Humans ,Medicine ,Poisson regression ,Psychiatry ,Pandemics ,Retrospective Studies ,Emergency Services, Psychiatric ,Pandemic ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Emergency psychiatry ,Public health ,Telepsychiatry ,COVID-19 ,Retrospective cohort study ,Mental health ,030227 psychiatry ,Hospitalization ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Clinical Psychology ,Spain ,Communicable Disease Control ,Quarantine ,symbols ,Anxiety ,medicine.symptom ,Emergency Service, Hospital ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Research Paper - Abstract
Highlights • A retrospective analysis was performed of all patients admitted to the Psychiatric Emergency Service 90 days before and after March 14th, 2020, the first day of lockdown in Spain due to COVID-19. • During the lockdown the number of admissions decreased by 37.9% while a significant increase in the percentage of patients requiring acute psychiatric hospitalization was observed. • Anxiety spectrum disorders accumulated the greatest decrease in admission rates compared to the three months before lockdown. • A statistically significant increase in admissions rates was found in patients with dementia-like cognitive impairments, autism spectrum, and substance use disorders during the lockdown., Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, a structural reorganization was imposed on public health systems. Psychiatry services were also affected with the imposed reduction of non-urgent consultations. We aim to explore the effect of these changes on a Psychiatry Emergency Service during COVID-19 lockdown in Spain. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients admitted to our Psychiatric Emergency Service 90 days before and after March 14th, 2020, the first day of lockdown in Spain. Extracted data were compared between the two periods. Poisson regression analysis was performed to analyze changes in admission rates. Results 1,958 psychiatric emergency admissions were analyzed. Although the number of admissions decreased by 37.9%, we observed a significant increase in the percentage of acute psychiatric hospitalization during the lockdown. Anxiety spectrum disorders accumulated the greatest significant decrease in admission rates during the lockdown. On the other hand, a significant increase in admissions rates was found in patients with dementia, autism spectrum disorders, and substance use disorders during the lockdown. Limitations This study was conducted in a single psychiatric emergency service, preventing a generalization of our results. The comparison time period might have biased our results due to the influence of external factors. Conclusion Mental health consequences of COVID-19 are becoming apparent. A reduction of admission rates for anxiety disorders might be related telepsychiatry implementation during the lockdown. Other conditions particularly vulnerable to the routine changes and lack of social support have suffered the most, and efforts should be placed to treat these situations.
- Published
- 2020