Department of Family and Community Medicine, Scarborough General Hospital, Scarborough Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 13;18(3):e0281307. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281307. eCollection 2023.
To determine whether more patients presented with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related visits and/or sought care from family physicians more frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Electronic medical records from the University of Toronto Practice-Based Research Network were used to characterize changes in family physician visits and prescriptions for ADHD medications. Annual patient prevalence and visit rates pre-pandemic (2017-2019) were used to calculate the expected rates in 2020 and 2021. The expected and observed rates were compared to identify any pandemic-related changes.
The number of patients presenting for ADHD-related visits during the pandemic was consistent with pre-pandemic trends. However, observed ADHD-related visits in 2021 were 1.32 times higher than expected (95% CI: 1.05-1.75), suggesting that patients visited family physicians more frequently than before the pandemic.
Demand for primary care services related to ADHD has continued to increase during the pandemic, with increased health service use among those accessing care.
确定在 COVID-19 大流行期间，是否有更多患者因注意力缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）相关就诊或更频繁地寻求家庭医生的治疗。
使用多伦多大学实践基础研究网络的电子病历来描述家庭医生就诊和 ADHD 药物处方的变化。使用大流行前（2017-2019 年）的年度患者患病率和就诊率来计算 2020 年和 2021 年的预期就诊率。将预期和观察到的就诊率进行比较，以确定与大流行相关的任何变化。
在大流行期间，因 ADHD 相关就诊的患者数量与大流行前的趋势一致。然而，2021 年观察到的 ADHD 相关就诊率是预期的 1.32 倍（95%CI：1.05-1.75），这表明患者就诊频率高于大流行前。
在大流行期间，与 ADHD 相关的初级保健服务需求持续增加，接受治疗的患者增加了卫生服务的使用。
