Zandy Moe, El Kurdi Sylvia, Samji Hasina, McKee Geoff, Gustafson Reka, Smolina Kate
BC Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Gen Psychiatr. 2023 Feb 27;36(1):e100941. doi: 10.1136/gpsych-2022-100941. eCollection 2023.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the population's mental health is vital for informing public health policy and decision-making. However, information on mental health-related healthcare service utilisation trends beyond the first year of the pandemic is limited.
We examined mental health-related healthcare service utilisation patterns and psychotropic drug dispensations in British Columbia, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the prepandemic period.
We conducted a retrospective population-based secondary analysis using administrative health data to capture outpatient physician visits, emergency department visits, hospital admissions and psychotropic drug dispensations. We examined time trends of mental health-related healthcare service utilisation and psychotropic drug dispensations between January to December 2019 (prepandemic period) and January 2020 to December 2021 (pandemic period). In addition, we calculated age-standardised rates and rate ratios to compare mental health-related healthcare service utilisation before and during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, stratified by year, sex, age and condition.
By late 2020, except for emergency department visits, utilisation of healthcare services recovered to prepandemic levels. Between 2019 and 2021, the monthly average rate for overall mental health-related outpatient physician visits, emergency department visits and psychotropic drug dispensations increased significantly by 24%, 5% and 8%, respectively. Notable and statistically significant increases were observed among 10-14 year-olds (44% in outpatient physician visits, 30% in emergency department visits, 55% in hospital admissions and 35% in psychotropic drug dispensations) and 15-19 year-olds (45% in outpatient physician visits, 14% in emergency department visits, 18% in hospital admissions and 34% in psychotropic drug dispensations). Additionally, these increases were more prominent among females than males, with some variation for specific mental health-related conditions.
The increase in mental health-related healthcare service utilisation and psychotropic drug dispensations during the pandemic likely reflects significant societal consequences of both the pandemic and pandemic management measures. Recovery efforts in British Columbia should consider these findings, especially among the most affected subpopulations, such as adolescents.
新冠疫情对民众心理健康的影响对于公共卫生政策和决策至关重要。然而，关于疫情第一年之后心理健康相关医疗服务利用趋势的信息有限。
我们研究了加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省在新冠疫情期间与疫情前相比心理健康相关医疗服务利用模式和精神药物配给情况。
我们使用行政卫生数据进行了一项基于人群的回顾性二次分析，以获取门诊医生就诊、急诊科就诊、住院情况和精神药物配给信息。我们研究了2019年1月至12月（疫情前时期）与2020年1月至2021年12月（疫情时期）之间心理健康相关医疗服务利用和精神药物配给的时间趋势。此外，我们计算了年龄标准化率和率比，以比较新冠疫情前两年和疫情期间按年份、性别、年龄和病情分层的心理健康相关医疗服务利用情况。
到2020年末，除急诊科就诊外，医疗服务利用率恢复到疫情前水平。2019年至2021年期间，总体心理健康相关门诊医生就诊、急诊科就诊和精神药物配给的月平均率分别显著增加了24%、5%和8%。10至14岁儿童（门诊医生就诊增加44%，急诊科就诊增加30%，住院增加55%，精神药物配给增加35%）和15至19岁青少年（门诊医生就诊增加45%，急诊科就诊增加14%，住院增加18%，精神药物配给增加34%）出现了显著且具有统计学意义的增长。此外，这些增长在女性中比男性更为突出，在特定心理健康相关病症方面存在一些差异。
疫情期间心理健康相关医疗服务利用和精神药物配给的增加可能反映了疫情及疫情管理措施的重大社会影响。不列颠哥伦比亚省的恢复工作应考虑这些发现，特别是在受影响最大的亚人群体中，如青少年。
