The impact of COVID-19 on emergency department presentations for mental health disorders in Queensland, Australia: A time series analysis

Article

Jones, Philip M., Sweeny, Amy, Branjerdporn, Grace, Keijzers, Gerben, Marshall, Andrea P., Huang, Ya-Ling, Hall, Emma J., Ranse, Jamie, Palipana, Dinesh, Teng, Yang D., Crilly, Julia and COVERED COVID study investigators. 2024. "The impact of COVID-19 on emergency department presentations for mental health disorders in Queensland, Australia: A time series analysis." Asia-Pacific Psychiatry. 16 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/appy.12553
Article Title

The impact of COVID-19 on emergency department presentations for mental health disorders in Queensland, Australia: A time series analysis

ERA Journal ID123283
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsJones, Philip M., Sweeny, Amy, Branjerdporn, Grace, Keijzers, Gerben, Marshall, Andrea P., Huang, Ya-Ling, Hall, Emma J., Ranse, Jamie, Palipana, Dinesh, Teng, Yang D., Crilly, Julia and COVERED COVID study investigators
Journal TitleAsia-Pacific Psychiatry
Journal Citation16 (1)
Article Numbere12553
Number of Pages11
Year2024
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Place of PublicationAustralia
ISSN1758-5864
1758-5872
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/appy.12553
Web Address (URL)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/appy.12553
Abstract

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with detrimental effects on mental health and psychological well-being. Although multiple studies have shown decreases in mental health-related Emergency Department (ED) presentations early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the medium-term effects on mental health-related ED presentations have remained less clear. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on mental health ED presentations by comparing observed presentation numbers to predictions from pre-pandemic data.

Methods
This retrospective cohort study tallied weekly ED presentations associated with mental health disorders from a state-wide minimum dataset. Three time periods were identified: Pre-Pandemic (January 1, 2018–March 8, 2020), Statewide Lockdown (March 9, 2020–June 28, 2020), and Restrictions Easing (June 29, 2020–June 27, 2021). Time series analysis was used to generate weekly presentation forecasts using pre-pandemic data. Observed presentation numbers were compared to these forecasts.

Results
Weekly presentation numbers were lower than predicted in 11 out of 16 weeks in the Statewide Lockdown period and 52 out of 52 weeks in the Restrictions Easing period. The largest decrease was seen for anxiety disorders (Statewide Lockdown: 76.8% of forecast; Restrictions Easing: 36.4% of forecast), while an increase was seen in presentations for eating disorders (Statewide Lockdown: 139.5% of forecast; Restrictions Easing: 194.4% of forecast).

Conclusions
Overall weekly mental health-related presentations across Queensland public EDs were lower than expected for the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings underline the limitations of emergency department provision of mental health care and the importance of alternate care modalities in the pandemic context.

Keywordscohort studie; COVID-19; emergency service; hospital; mental health; pandemic
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020420699. Public health not elsewhere classified
420501. Acute care
420299. Epidemiology not elsewhere classified
Byline AffiliationsGriffith University
Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Australia
Bond University
Southern Cross Care, Australia
Harvard Medical School, United States
COVERED COVID study investigators
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