Emergency Psychiatric Consultations During and after the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy. A Multicentre Study

Balestrieri, Matteo; Rucci, Paola; Amendola, Davide; Bonizzoni, Miki; Cerveri, Giancarlo; Colli, Chiara; Dragogna, Filippo; Ducci, Giuseppe; Elmo, Maria Giuseppa; Ghio, Lucio; Grasso, Federico; Locatelli, Clara; Mencacci, Claudio; Monaco, Leonardo; Nicotra, Alessandra; Piccinini, Giulia; Pischiutta, Livia; Toscano, Marco; Vaggi, Marco; Villari, Vincenzo; Vitalucci, Alberto; Castelpietra, Giulio; Bondi, Emi

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3825459

Cited by 3 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Even if most of the present ndings might be related to the government restrictions to movement and to the fear of contagion, our results are consistent with evidence from other countries, suggesting a plausible general effect of the COVID-19 crisis on severe mental illnesses; while a severe mental health crisis was expected [28,29], a general reduction in help-seeking behaviors [28][29][30][31] and psychiatric emergencies were found [14][15][16]27]. In line with previous Italian studies [22,23], although the described reduction in EDs psychiatric consultations was higher in the lockdown period, there was a persisting reduction in the post-lockdown period as well.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Interestingly, the percentage of psychiatric consultations over total ED accesses was higher during the lockdown and the post-lockdown period. These ndings, in line with those emerging from another study considering data from Italian ED (Lombardy) [22] demonstrate that the need for mental health reasons remained high despite the containment measures compared to other emergencies. Focusing on demographic characteristics, nationality did not contribute to the risk of access to ED for a psychiatric consultation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the rst study evaluating ED access for psychiatric consultations in Italy before, during, and after the lockdown. Previous studies focused on the impact of the rst lockdown on EDs psychiatric consultations with data from a limited time frame [22,23,26,27], and no study has yet investigated the late phase of the pandemic and the long-term effects of prolonged exposure to the pandemic on psychiatric emergencies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the existing studies focused on the rst lockdown and presented only cross-sectional data with one time-point of observation, without comparison within the different phases of the COVID-19 crisis. In Italy, one of the rst and more heavily affected European countries by the COVID19 pandemic, a reduction of ED accesses for psychiatric consultation was found, ranging from 50% [21] to 37% in the rst phase of the lockdown period (March 8th-May 4th/ 18 th 2020), and a reduction of 11,2 % during the second phase of the lockdown (18th May to June 30 th , 2020) [22] compared with the same periods in 2019. A study considering a longer period of observation (March 1st -August 31 st , 2020) found a persisting reduction in monthly ED access for psychiatric consultation compared with 2019 [23].…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Psychiatric emergencies during, after, and before the COVID-19 lockdown; what happened to our patients? A naturalistic observational study

Brandizzi¹,

Polselli

Corigliano³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Despite concerns on mental health problems related to COVID19 lockdown, recent reports revealed a reduction in psychiatric admissions in Emergency Departments (ED) during the lockdown period compared with the previous year in several countries. Most of the existing studies focused on the first lockdown not considering the different phases of the COVID-19 crisis. The present study aimed to analyze differences in ED admission for psychiatric consultation during three different phases of the COVID-19 pandemia in Italy. Methods: Information on ED admission for psychiatric consultations were retrospectively collected at the ED of the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome (Italy), and compared between the three periods: the lockdown (March - June 2020) and the post-lockdown period (June 2020 - June 2021) compared to the pre-lockdown (January 2019 - March 2020). Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the risk of accessing ED for psychiatric consultation before, during, after the lockdown. Results: 3,871 ED psychiatric consultations were collected. A significant reduction of psychiatric consultations in ED during the lockdown period and the post-lockdown (H: 762,45; p<0.001) was documented. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that compared to pre-lockdown during the lockdown and post-lockdown patients were more likely to be men (RRR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.10 - 2.12) and more often diagnosed with non-severe mental illnesses (nSMI) (relative risk ratio [RRR]: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.10 - 2.15; and 1.72, 95% CI: 1.42 - 2.08); during the lockdown, patients were also more often diagnosed with alcohol/substance abuse (A&S) (RRR: 1.70; 95% CI: 1.10 - 2.65). Conclusions: Several changes in the clinical characteristics of psychiatric consultations during and after the lockdown emerged from the present study; nSMI and A&S abuse patients were more likely to present at the ED in the lockdown and post-lockdown periods while SMI patients appeared to be less likely. These may inform clinicians and future preventive strategies among community mental health services.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 90%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Psychiatric emergencies during, after, and before the COVID-19 lockdown; what happened to our patients? A naturalistic observational study

Brandizzi¹,

Polselli

Corigliano³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Vorerkrankte bzw. vorbehandelte Patienten stellten sich relativ häufiger vor [8,[11][12][13], wohingegen nie zuvor psychisch Erkrankte ("Erstvorsteller") in Notaufnahmen relativ seltener zur Vorstellung kamen [8]. Hinsichtlich des Anlasses bzw.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Welchen Einfluss hatte der Lockdown 2020 auf die Inanspruchnahme einer zentralen Notaufnahme durch psychiatrische Notfallpatienten

Ullrich¹,

Kirchner

Hulsmans

et al. 2022

Psychiatr Prax

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Zusammenfassung Ziel der Studie Die aktuelle Coronaviruspandemie (COVID-19-Erkrankung) stellt die Gesundheitssysteme weltweit vor große Herausforderungen. Speziell psychiatrische Patienten sind in besonderer Weise von Lockdown-Maßnahmen betroffen. Die Häufigkeit psychiatrischer Notfälle ist ein sensibler Indikator für die psychische Belastung. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Identifizierung von Auswirkungen während des durchgeführten Lockdowns auf psychiatrische Notfallvorstellungen. Methodik Es erfolgte im Jahr 2021 eine retrospektive Erhebung aller psychiatrischen Notfallkontakte in der ZNA. Das Jahr 2019 diente als Referenzjahr. Ergebnisse Es fand sich ein Rückgang der psychiatrischen Fallzahlen. Des Weiteren konnte eine Veränderung in der Altersstruktur und der Diagnoseverteilung beschrieben werden. Schlussfolgerung Es lassen sich z. T. deutliche Auswirkungen durch den Lockdown auf psychiatrische Notfälle im Setting einer Notaufnahme beschreiben. Entgegen der Hypothese fielen die Fallzahlen.

show abstract

Adverse sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health care in seven low- and middle-income countries: MASC study

Hanlon,

Lempp,

Alem

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A WHO rapid assessment of early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health services worldwide found a consistent pattern of degradation. In this context the MASC study aimed to: identify the consequences of the pandemic for mental health services and people with pre- existing mental health conditions (MHCs) in 7 low- and middle-income countries; and (2) identify good practice to mitigate these impacts. The study was conducted in Chile, Ethiopia, Georgia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. This was an observational study, using a mixed- methods convergent design, triangulating data from: (1) 144 key informants participating in semi- structured interviews or focus groups and/or a self-completed survey; (2) routine service utilization data; (3) local grey literature; and (4) expert consultation. We found clear evidence in all sites that the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing disadvantages experienced by people with MHCs and led to a deterioration in the availability and quality of care, especially for psychosocial care. Alongside increased vulnerability to COVID-19, people with MHCs faced additional barriers to accessing prevention and treatment interventions compared to the general population. To varying extents, sites showed accelerated implementation of digital technologies, but with evidence of worsening inequities in access. Where primary care-based mental health care was more developed or prioritised, systems seemed more resilient and adaptive. Our findings have the following implications. First, mental health service reductions are clear examples of ‘structural stigma’, namely policy level decisions in healthcare which place a low priority upon services for people with MHCs. Second, integration of mental health care into all general health care settings is key to ensuring accessibility and parity of physical and mental health care. Third, digital innovations should be designed to strengthen and not fragment systems. We discuss these findings in terms of anticipating such challenges in future and preparing layers of resilience.

show abstract

Emergency Psychiatric Consultations During and after the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy. A Multicentre Study

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

Psychiatric emergencies during, after, and before the COVID-19 lockdown; what happened to our patients? A naturalistic observational study

Psychiatric emergencies during, after, and before the COVID-19 lockdown; what happened to our patients? A naturalistic observational study

Welchen Einfluss hatte der Lockdown 2020 auf die Inanspruchnahme einer zentralen Notaufnahme durch psychiatrische Notfallpatienten

Adverse sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health care in seven low- and middle-income countries: MASC study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About