Gaps in psychiatric care before and after the COVID-19 pandemic among patients with depression using electronic health records.

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 highes

SUBMITTER: Ettman CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11785417 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature