TY - JOUR
T1 - Incidence of mental health diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multinational network study
AU - Chai, Yi
AU - Man, Kenneth K.C.
AU - Luo, Hao
AU - Torre, Carmen Olga
AU - Wing, Yun Kwok
AU - Hayes, Joseph F.
AU - Osborn, David P.J.
AU - Chang, Wing Chung
AU - Lin, Xiaoyu
AU - Yin, Can
AU - Chan, Esther W.
AU - Lam, Ivan C.H.
AU - Fortin, Stephen
AU - Kern, David M.
AU - Lee, Dong Yun
AU - Park, Rae Woong
AU - Jang, Jae Won
AU - Li, Jing
AU - Seager, Sarah
AU - Lau, Wallis C.Y.
AU - Wong, Ian C.K.
N1 - Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
PY - 2024/3/4
Y1 - 2024/3/4
N2 - Aims. Population-wide restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may create barriers to mental health diagnosis. This study aims to examine changes in the number of incident cases and the incidence rates of mental health diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. By using electronic health records from France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and the UK and claims data from the US, this study conducted interrupted time-series analyses to compare the monthly incident cases and the incidence of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol misuse or dependence, substance misuse or dependence, bipolar disorders, personality disorders and psychoses diagnoses before (January 2017 to February 2020) and after (April 2020 to the latest available date of each database [up to November 2021]) the introduction of COVID-related restrictions. Results. A total of 629,712,954 individuals were enrolled across nine databases. Following the introduction of restrictions, an immediate decline was observed in the number of incident cases of all mental health diagnoses in the US (rate ratios (RRs) ranged from 0.005 to 0.677) and in the incidence of all conditions in France, Germany, Italy and the US (RRs ranged from 0.002 to 0.422). In the UK, significant reductions were only observed in common mental illnesses. The number of incident cases and the incidence began to return to or exceed pre-pandemic levels in most countries from mid-2020 through 2021. Conclusions. Healthcare providers should be prepared to deliver service adaptations to mitigate burdens directly or indirectly caused by delays in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions.
AB - Aims. Population-wide restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may create barriers to mental health diagnosis. This study aims to examine changes in the number of incident cases and the incidence rates of mental health diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. By using electronic health records from France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and the UK and claims data from the US, this study conducted interrupted time-series analyses to compare the monthly incident cases and the incidence of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol misuse or dependence, substance misuse or dependence, bipolar disorders, personality disorders and psychoses diagnoses before (January 2017 to February 2020) and after (April 2020 to the latest available date of each database [up to November 2021]) the introduction of COVID-related restrictions. Results. A total of 629,712,954 individuals were enrolled across nine databases. Following the introduction of restrictions, an immediate decline was observed in the number of incident cases of all mental health diagnoses in the US (rate ratios (RRs) ranged from 0.005 to 0.677) and in the incidence of all conditions in France, Germany, Italy and the US (RRs ranged from 0.002 to 0.422). In the UK, significant reductions were only observed in common mental illnesses. The number of incident cases and the incidence began to return to or exceed pre-pandemic levels in most countries from mid-2020 through 2021. Conclusions. Healthcare providers should be prepared to deliver service adaptations to mitigate burdens directly or indirectly caused by delays in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions.
KW - COVID-19
KW - mental health
KW - OHDSI
KW - OMOP
KW - psychiatric disorder
KW - SARS-CoV-2
UR - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psychiatric-sciences/article/incidence-of-mental-health-diagnoses-during-the-covid19-pandemic-a-multinational-network-study/4286D77D2E42C04FE5470D7DDE54C97F#article
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186671762&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S2045796024000088
DO - 10.1017/S2045796024000088
M3 - Article
C2 - 38433286
AN - SCOPUS:85186671762
SN - 2045-7960
VL - 33
JO - Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences
JF - Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences
M1 - e9
ER -