1. Gaps in psychiatric care before and after the COVID-19 pandemic among patients with depression using electronic health records.
- Author
-
Ettman CK, Brantner CL, Goicoechea EB, Dohlman P, Ringlein GV, Straub J, Sthapit S, Mojtabai R, Spivak S, Albert M, Goes FS, Stuart EA, and Zandi PP
- Subjects
- Humans, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Adult, Aged, Healthcare Disparities statistics & numerical data, SARS-CoV-2, Young Adult, COVID-19 epidemiology, COVID-19 psychology, Electronic Health Records statistics & numerical data, Mental Health Services statistics & numerical data, Depression epidemiology
- Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to health services. It is unclear if there were inequalities in the continuity of mental health care in the years around the COVID-19 pandemic. We used electronic health records (EHR) to detect mental health care gaps of more than six months in psychiatric appointments across demographic and socioeconomic characteristics among patients with depression. The analysis included patients with depression who were seen at one of two mental health clinics every year of 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 (n = 783 patients). First, we found that the odds of mental health care gaps significantly decreased in the post-pandemic period (2021-2022) relative to the pre-pandemic period (2018-2019). Second, in the pre-pandemic period, patients who lived in areas in the highest tertile of deprivation had greater odds of gaps in mental health care relative to those in the lowest tertile (aOR: 2.18 [95 % CI: 1.02, 4.68]). Males had higher odds of gaps in care than females in the post-pandemic period (aOR: 2.22 [1.13, 4.37]) and the pooled pre- and post-pandemic study period (aOR: 1.58 [1.04, 2.40]). Third, interactions between patient characteristics and time were not significant, suggesting that the change in the odds of gaps of mental health care before relative to after the COVID-19 pandemic did not differ significantly based on patient characteristics. Overall, gaps in care decreased in the post-pandemic period relative to the pre-pandemic period among almost all patient groups., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Dr. Mojtabai reports having received royalties and consulting fees from UpToDate, Medscape, and MindMed and providing expert consultation regarding social media litigation on behalf of the plaintiffs. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
- Published
- 2025
- Full Text
- View/download PDF