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Child psychiatric emergency visits during the COVID-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

J. Andreo Jover ,
D. Hernandez Calle ,
J. Curto-Ramos ,
L. Vicente Valor ,
D. García Martínez ,
G. Juárez ,
M. Alcamí ,
A. Ortiz ,
N. Iglesias  and
M.F. Bravo-Ortiz
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J. Andreo Jover*
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Departament Of Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain Fundacion para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario La Paz (IdiPAZ), Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain
D. Hernandez Calle
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
J. Curto-Ramos
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
L. Vicente Valor
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
D. García Martínez
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
G. Juárez
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
M. Alcamí
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
A. Ortiz
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
N. Iglesias
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
M.F. Bravo-Ortiz
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Departament Of Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain La Paz University Hospital, Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Cibersam, Madrid, Spain
G. Martinez-Ales
Affiliation:
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Cibersam, Madrid, Spain Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Departament Of Epidemiology, Columbia, United States of America
B. Rodríguez-Vega
Affiliation:
Fundacion para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario La Paz (IdiPAZ), Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain., Department Of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology And Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Paediatric and adult psychiatric emergency department (ED) visits decreased during the initial COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Long-term consequences of the pandemic will include increases in mental healthcare needs especially among especially vulnerable groups such as children and adolescents.

Objectives

This study examined changes in the number of overall and diagnosis-specific mental health ED visits among patients aged <18 years following onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Madrid, Spain.

Methods

We used electronic health records to extract the monthly numbers of total and diagnosis-specific mental health ED visits among patients aged <18 years, between October 2018 and April 2021, to La Paz University Hospital. We conducted interrupted time-series analyses and compared trends before and after the day of the first ED COVID-19 case (1st March 2020).

Results

In March 2020, there was a marked initial decrease of -12.8 (95%CI -21.9, -7.9) less monthly mental health ED visits. After April 2020, there was a subsequent increasing trend of 3.4 (95%CI 2.6, 4.2) additional monthly mental health ED visits.

Conclusions

After onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in paediatric psychiatric ED visits, especially due to suicide-related reasons. These data reinforce the crucial role of the ED in the management of acute mental health problems among youth and highlight the need for renovated efforts to enhance access to care outside of and during acute crises during the pandemic and its aftermath.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

UrgencyChildpsychiatryCovid-19
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S510 - S511
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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