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Decreasing Psychiatric Emergency Visits, but Stable Addiction Emergency Visits, During COVID-19—A Time Series Analysis 10 Months Into the Pandemic

Håkansson, Anders LU and Grudet, Cécile LU orcid (2021) In Frontiers in Psychiatry 12.
Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been suspected to increase mental health problems, but also to possibly lead to a decreased treatment seeking, for example due to fear of attending hospital. Early findings demonstrate decreased treatment seeking for mental health, which may differ across diagnostic groups. This study aimed to examine treatment uptake at a general psychiatry emergency unit and at an addiction psychiatry emergency unit in Malmö, Sweden, separately. In addition, the study aimed to investigate treatment uptake for different diagnostic groups—during and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Monthly data for number of unique patients and number of contacts were extracted for the three-year period of January 2018... (More)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been suspected to increase mental health problems, but also to possibly lead to a decreased treatment seeking, for example due to fear of attending hospital. Early findings demonstrate decreased treatment seeking for mental health, which may differ across diagnostic groups. This study aimed to examine treatment uptake at a general psychiatry emergency unit and at an addiction psychiatry emergency unit in Malmö, Sweden, separately. In addition, the study aimed to investigate treatment uptake for different diagnostic groups—during and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Monthly data for number of unique patients and number of contacts were extracted for the three-year period of January 2018 through December 2020. Data from each facility were analyzed separately for women, men and patients with psychotic, affective, anxiety and substance use-related disorders. Interrupted time series were used to demonstrate possible effects of COVID-19. Results: COVID-19 was associated with a marked decrease in treatment contacts, both for women and men, in the general psychiatry emergency unit—driven by a significant decrease in anxiety-related disorders (p < 0.001) and affective disorders (p < 0.01)—but not in psychotic or substance use disorders (SUDs). Also, in the addiction psychiatry emergency unit, no significant impact of COVID-19 was seen. Conclusions: COVID-19 may decrease treatment uptake for acute affective and anxiety-related disorders. Given the hypothesized increase in the population regarding these conditions, societal efforts are needed to facilitate adequate treatment for these patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Society should also remain vigilant with respect to SUDs during the pandemic.

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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
COVID-19, emergency psychiatry, mental health, substance use disorder, treatment seeking
in
Frontiers in Psychiatry
volume
12
article number
664204
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85111351239
  • pmid:34326783
ISSN
1664-0640
DOI
10.3389/fpsyt.2021.664204
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
875011c3-1b71-4b12-b775-0e40bf0f41a3
date added to LUP
2021-08-30 17:00:23
date last changed
2024-06-15 15:19:15
@article{875011c3-1b71-4b12-b775-0e40bf0f41a3,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been suspected to increase mental health problems, but also to possibly lead to a decreased treatment seeking, for example due to fear of attending hospital. Early findings demonstrate decreased treatment seeking for mental health, which may differ across diagnostic groups. This study aimed to examine treatment uptake at a general psychiatry emergency unit and at an addiction psychiatry emergency unit in Malmö, Sweden, separately. In addition, the study aimed to investigate treatment uptake for different diagnostic groups—during and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Monthly data for number of unique patients and number of contacts were extracted for the three-year period of January 2018 through December 2020. Data from each facility were analyzed separately for women, men and patients with psychotic, affective, anxiety and substance use-related disorders. Interrupted time series were used to demonstrate possible effects of COVID-19. Results: COVID-19 was associated with a marked decrease in treatment contacts, both for women and men, in the general psychiatry emergency unit—driven by a significant decrease in anxiety-related disorders (p &lt; 0.001) and affective disorders (p &lt; 0.01)—but not in psychotic or substance use disorders (SUDs). Also, in the addiction psychiatry emergency unit, no significant impact of COVID-19 was seen. Conclusions: COVID-19 may decrease treatment uptake for acute affective and anxiety-related disorders. Given the hypothesized increase in the population regarding these conditions, societal efforts are needed to facilitate adequate treatment for these patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Society should also remain vigilant with respect to SUDs during the pandemic.</p>}},
  author       = {{Håkansson, Anders and Grudet, Cécile}},
  issn         = {{1664-0640}},
  keywords     = {{COVID-19; emergency psychiatry; mental health; substance use disorder; treatment seeking}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{Decreasing Psychiatric Emergency Visits, but Stable Addiction Emergency Visits, During COVID-19—A Time Series Analysis 10 Months Into the Pandemic}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.664204}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fpsyt.2021.664204}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}