Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, Field Service, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2022 Aug 3;8(8):e32347. doi: 10.2196/32347.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented impact on the day-to-day lives of people, with several features potentially adversely affecting mental health. There is growing evidence of the size of the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, but much of this is from ongoing population surveys using validated mental health scores.
This study investigated the impact of the pandemic and control measures on mental health conditions presenting to a spectrum of national health care services monitored using real-time syndromic surveillance in England.
We conducted a retrospective observational descriptive study of mental health presentations (those calling the national medical helpline, National Health Service [NHS] 111; consulting general practitioners [GPs] in and out-of-hours; calling ambulance services; and attending emergency departments) from January 1, 2019, to September 30, 2020. Estimates for the impact of lockdown measures were provided using an interrupted time series analysis.
Mental health presentations showed a marked decrease during the early stages of the pandemic. Postlockdown, attendances for mental health conditions reached higher than prepandemic levels across most systems-a rise of 10% compared to that expected for NHS 111 and 21% for GP out-of-hours service-while the number of consultations to GP in-hours service was 13% lower compared to the same time previous year. Increases were observed in calls to NHS 111 for sleep problems.
These analyses showed marked changes in the health care attendances and prescribing for common mental health conditions across a spectrum of health care provision, with some of these changes persisting. The reasons for such changes are likely to be complex and multifactorial. The impact of the pandemic on mental health may not be fully understood for some time, and therefore, these syndromic indicators should continue to be monitored.
新冠疫情对人们的日常生活造成了前所未有的影响，其中一些特征可能对心理健康产生不利影响。越来越多的证据表明，新冠疫情对心理健康的影响巨大，但其中大部分是通过正在进行的使用经过验证的心理健康评分的人口调查得出的。
本研究调查了疫情及其防控措施对通过英国实时症状监测系统监测的一系列国家卫生保健服务中出现的心理健康状况的影响。
我们对 2019 年 1 月 1 日至 2020 年 9 月 30 日期间心理健康就诊情况（拨打国家医疗热线、NHS 111；咨询全科医生（GP）在工作时间和非工作时间；拨打急救电话；和急诊就诊）进行了回顾性描述性研究。使用中断时间序列分析提供了对封锁措施影响的估计。
心理健康就诊在疫情早期出现明显下降。封锁后，大多数系统的心理健康就诊量都高于疫情前水平-NHS 111 上升了 10%，非工作时间 GP 服务上升了 21%，而同期 GP 工作时间就诊量则下降了 13%。NHS 111 因睡眠问题的来电也有所增加。
这些分析表明，在一系列卫生保健服务中，常见心理健康状况的卫生保健就诊和处方都发生了显著变化，其中一些变化仍在持续。这些变化的原因可能很复杂，涉及多个因素。疫情对心理健康的影响在一段时间内可能还不完全清楚，因此，这些症状监测指标应继续监测。
