Acute mental health presentations before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A number of community based surveys have identified an increase in psychological symptoms and distress but there has been no examination of symptoms at the more severe end of the mental health spectrum.

Aims

We aimed to analyse numbers and types of psychiatric presentations to inform planning for future demand on mental health services in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method

We analysed electronic data between January and April 2020 for 2534 patients referred to acute psychiatric services, and tested for differences in patient demographics, symptom severity and use of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), before and after lockdown. We used interrupted time-series analyses to compare trends in emergency department and psychiatric presentations until December 2

SUBMITTER: Mukadam N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8314272 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature