Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 42, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08830, Spain; Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, 78180, France.
The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Nov;143:528-533. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.11.029. Epub 2020 Nov 17.
Little is known about the effects of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the diagnosis of anxiety disorder. Therefore, the goal of this study was to compare the number of adults with a diagnosis of anxiety disorder and the number of adults newly diagnosed with anxiety disorder in Germany between January-June 2019 and January-June 2020, and to identify potential differences in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, prescriptions and comorbidities between these patients. The study included patients with at least one consultation in one of 1140 general practices in Germany in January-June 2019 and January-June 2020. Sociodemographic characteristics included age and sex, while there were three families of drugs and nine common comorbidities available for the analysis. An increase in the number of patients with anxiety disorder was observed in 2020 compared with 2019 (January: +4%, p = 0.643; February: +4%, p = 0.825; March: +34%, p < 0.001; April: +8%, p = 0.542; May: +2%, p = 0.382; June: +19%, p = 0.043; and March-June: + 19%, p < 0.001). There was also an increase in the number of patients newly diagnosed with anxiety disorder between March-June 2020 and March-June 2019 (11,502 versus 9506; +21%, p-value<0.001). Antidepressants, anxiolytics and herbal sedatives were less frequently prescribed in patients newly diagnosed with anxiety disorder in 2020 than in 2019 (30.4% versus 35.6%, p-value<0.001). Finally, COPD (9.4% versus 7.9%, p-value<0.001) and asthma (11.3% versus 9.7%, p-value<0.001) were more frequent in 2020 than in 2019. Taken these findings together, public health measures are urgently needed to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety disorder.
关于 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行对焦虑障碍诊断的影响，人们知之甚少。因此，本研究的目的是比较 2019 年 1 月至 6 月和 2020 年 1 月至 6 月德国成年人焦虑障碍的诊断数量和新诊断为焦虑障碍的成年人数量，并确定这些患者在社会人口统计学特征、处方和合并症方面的潜在差异。该研究纳入了 2019 年和 2020 年 1 月至 6 月期间在德国 1140 家全科诊所中至少接受一次就诊的患者。社会人口统计学特征包括年龄和性别，而分析中可用的药物有三类，常见的合并症有九种。与 2019 年相比，2020 年焦虑障碍患者的数量有所增加（1 月：增加 4%，p=0.643；2 月：增加 4%，p=0.825；3 月：增加 34%，p<0.001；4 月：增加 8%，p=0.542；5 月：增加 2%，p=0.382；6 月：增加 19%，p=0.043；3 月至 6 月：增加 19%，p<0.001）。与 2019 年 3 月至 6 月相比，2020 年 3 月至 6 月新诊断为焦虑障碍的患者数量也有所增加（11502 例比 9506 例，增加 21%，p 值<0.001）。与 2019 年相比，2020 年新诊断为焦虑障碍的患者抗抑郁药、抗焦虑药和草药镇静剂的处方频率较低（30.4%比 35.6%，p 值<0.001）。最后，2020 年 COPD（9.4%比 7.9%，p 值<0.001）和哮喘（11.3%比 9.7%，p 值<0.001）的发病率高于 2019 年。综上所述，迫切需要采取公共卫生措施，减轻 COVID-19 大流行对焦虑障碍的负面影响。
