Psicosomática y Psiquiatría (May 2022)

Patients non linked to their referents during the pandemic

  • Maria Irigoyen-Otiñano,
  • Vicent Llorca-Bofí,
  • Lucía Ibarra-Pertusa,
  • Eugènia Nicolau-Subires,
  • Marina Adrados-Pérez,
  • Laura Arenas,
  • Marta Sánchez-Cazalilla,
  • Esther Buil,
  • Carla Albert,
  • Giovanni Torterolo,
  • Margarita Puigdevall-Ruestes

DOI
https://doi.org/10.34810/PsicosomPsiquiatrnum210402
Journal volume & issue
no. 21

Abstract

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Abstract The pandemic has gotten a high impact in mental health including general population and patients with mental illness before the pandemic, who has seen increase their symptoms and/or their treatment interrupted. This letter aims to describe the sociodemographic and clinical variables that converge in patients who come to the psychiatry emergency department during the pandemic without being under prior follow-up at least the previous six months. The database was obtained through a retrospective review of digital medical record, which registers sociodemographic, diagnosis, reason for consultation and hospital admissions. The observatory periods were: 1) Before the lockdown, from 13th of January, 2020 to 14th of March, 2020; 2) During the lockdown by the first alarm state, from the beginning of the alarm state in Spain (15th of March, 2020) until its end (20th of June, 2020) and 3) while the second state of alarm in Spain (from the 25th of October, 2020 to 9th of May, 2021). In the first state of alarm the psychotic decompensations increased from 5.1% before the pandemic to 12.5% (p=0.015), and the unipolar depression decreased from 15.3% to 9.3% (p=0.026). About the therapeutic decision, stands out that in the first alarm state the hospitalizations increased to 30.6% while before the lockdown the income was 21% (p=0.039). During the second state of alarm the number of pacients without previous follow-up increased from 22.4% to 29.4% (p<0.001). They were also younger with an average age of 38.8 years (p=0.006) and only the 29.5% had couple (p=0.004). In conclusion, this study suggests that in the first state of alarm the epidemiological situation limited face-to-face health care, which is why the hospital admission was preferred specially in psychotic decompensations. While in the second alarm state more users attended without previous follow-up, without couple and younger.

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