AI Article Synopsis
- This study analyzed how people's mental health crises, specifically self-harm and violence-related issues, led to urgent psychiatric consultations in emergency departments during different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Researchers compared data from three time periods: before the pandemic (2019), during the peak (2020), and when things had calmed down (2021), focusing on patient demographics like age, gender, and how they were referred for help.
- Findings suggested that while demographic factors impacted the likelihood of these consultations, the stage of the pandemic itself did not significantly affect the rates of self-harm or violence-related emergencies.
Article Abstract
Purpose: People's health-care-seeking behaviors considerably changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study evaluated the changes in self-harm- and violence-related urgent psychiatric consultation (UPC) in the emergency department (ED) during different stages of the pandemic and at different levels of hospitals.
Patients And Methods: We recruited patients who received UPC during the baseline (2019), peak (2020), and slack (2021) periods of the same time window (calendar weeks 4-18) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Demographic data such as age, sex, and referral type (by the police/emergency medical system) were also recorded.
Results: We found female gender and younger age associated with higher risk of self-harm-related UPCs, whereas patients visiting regional hospitals, male patients, and patients referred by the policy/emergency medical system, had a higher risk of violence-related UPCs. After adjustment, the different pandemic stages were not significantly associated with self-harm- or violence-related UPCs.
Conclusion: Patient's demographic data, but not the pandemic itself, may be responsible for the changes in self-harm- and violence-related UPCs during the pandemic.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10178994 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S399242 | DOI Listing |
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