Instituto Peruano de Orientación Psicológica, Lima, Peru.
CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2023 Dec;69(8):1996-2006. doi: 10.1177/00207640231185026. Epub 2023 Jul 14.
A consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic was that the provision of mental health services was reduced in several countries around the world, while the demand for mental health services increased.
Our study aims to determine any variation in the number of users served, health appointments, and care activities conducted at 58 Peruvian community mental health centers (CMHCs) between March 2019 and October 2021.
Our study used an observational design and analyzed information from the care provided in CMHCs. We evaluate the number of users served, health appointments, and care activities performed per month. The main statistical analysis used segmented regression with Newey-West standard errors, taking into account each month of the evaluation.
We had 988,456 unique users during the period evaluated. Regarding diagnoses, 7.4% ( = 72,818) had a severe mental problem, 39.4% ( = 389,330) a common mental problem, and 53.2% ( = 526,308) others health problems. The study found a reduction in the number of users served and health care appointments at the 58 CMHCs in March 2020, the month in which the closure measures were declared to reduce COVID-19 infections in Peru. This reduction was followed by an upward trend in the three variables during the pandemic in the 58 CMHCs studied. In, November 2020, 9 months after the pandemic started, the deficit in the average number of users served per month was recovered.
Our study suggests that CMHCs in the Peruvian system were able to regain care capacity approximately 1 year after the pandemic. In addition, we discuss the efforts made to respond to mental health needs in the context of a global health crisis.
COVID-19 大流行的后果是，世界上许多国家的精神卫生服务提供减少，而对精神卫生服务的需求增加。
我们的研究旨在确定秘鲁 58 个社区精神卫生中心（CMHC）在 2019 年 3 月至 2021 年 10 月期间服务用户人数、健康预约和护理活动的数量是否存在差异。
我们的研究采用观察性设计，分析了 CMHC 提供的护理信息。我们评估每月服务的用户人数、健康预约和护理活动数量。主要统计分析采用带 Newey-West 标准误差的分段回归，考虑到评估的每个月。
在评估期间，我们有 988456 个独特的用户。关于诊断，7.4%（=72818）有严重精神问题，39.4%（=389330）有常见精神问题，53.2%（=526308）有其他健康问题。研究发现，在秘鲁宣布采取关闭措施以减少 COVID-19 感染的 2020 年 3 月，58 个 CMHC 的服务用户人数和医疗保健预约减少。此后，在疫情期间，这三个变量在 58 个研究的 CMHC 中呈上升趋势。2020 年 11 月，即大流行开始 9 个月后，每月服务用户人数的平均短缺得到了弥补。
我们的研究表明，秘鲁系统中的 CMHC 大约在大流行后 1 年恢复了护理能力。此外，我们还讨论了在全球卫生危机背景下为满足精神卫生需求而做出的努力。
