Journal
JOURNAL OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASE
Volume 209, Issue 4, Pages 246-250Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001289
Keywords
COVID-19; psychiatric disorders; suicide; mental health; psychiatric emergency
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
During the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, mental health patients visited emergency departments less frequently, but distress in economic, health, and social aspects may lead to an increase in suicidal risk and severity of psychopathological state.
We performed a retrospective study from January to May 2020 to establish the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with mental health problems who arrived at an Italian emergency department during the COVID-19 outbreak. We divided the sample into two groups taking as a watershed March 11, when the World Health Organization announced COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Chi-square/t-tests, adjusted p values (Bonferroni method), and regression analysis were performed. Patients who arrived at the emergency department during the lockdown decreased by 56%; showed greater active suicidal ideation, more tension, and more severe psychopathological state; were living alone more frequently; and were taking home treatment mainly based on second-generation antipsychotics. According to our study, it seems that patients with mental disorders have consulted psychiatric services less frequently during the pandemic, but the economic, health, and social distress may be linked with an increase in suicidal risk and the severity of the psychopathological state.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available