Psychiatric hospitalization rates in Italy before and during COVID-19: did they change? An analysis of register data
Psychiatric hospitalization rates in Italy before and during COVID-19: did they change? An analysis of register data
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DOI：
10.1017/ipm.2020.29
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发表时间：
2020-12-01
影响因子：
5.1
通讯作者：
Micciolo, R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Clerici, M.;Durbano, F.;Micciolo, R.
目的：评估伦巴第大区2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）流行开始后40天内7家综合医院精神病病房（GHPWs）的入院率，并与2020年和2019年的类似时期进行比较。方法：从区域精神病护理登记处获得分析数据并进行分析。这七个家庭保健工作组为大约140万居民提供护理，共有119张病床。（2020年2月21日至3月31日）在意大利新冠肺炎疫情开始后，与2月21日之前的类似40天时期相比，与2019年的两个40天时期相比，精神病住院率显著下降。减少的原因是自愿入院，而非自愿入院没有明显减少。所有诊断组的减少是可见的，除了一组“其他”诊断，其中包括焦虑症，神经认知障碍等。结论。大规模流行病可以修改自愿入院率精神病院在流行病爆发后的早期阶段。我们认为，入院率的下降可能是由于害怕医院，被视为可能的传染病的场所，以及作为家庭亲属或治疗临床医生转诊入院请求的触发器的行为问题的阈值的变化。从研究中尚不清楚入院人数的减少主要是由于当前的大流行还是由于大流行而实施的封锁。
Objectives.To assess admission rates to seven General Hospital Psychiatric Wards (GHPWs) located in the Lombardy Region in the 40 days after the start of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, compared to similar periods of 2020 and 2019.Methods.Anonymized data from the regional psychiatric care register have been obtained and analyzed. The seven GHPWs care for approximately 1.4 million inhabitants and have a total of 119 beds.Results.In the 40-day period (February 21-March 31, 2020) after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy, compared to a similar 40-day period prior to February 21, and compared to two 40-day periods of 2019, there has been a marked reduction in psychiatric admission rates. The reduction was explained by voluntary admissions, while there was not a noticeable reduction for involuntary admissions. The reduction was visible for all diagnostic groups, except for a group of 'Other' diagnoses, which includes anxiety disorders, neurocognitive disorders, etc.Conclusions.Large-scale pandemics can modify voluntary admission rates to psychiatric facilities in the early phases following pandemic onset. We suggest that the reduction in admission rates may be due to fear of hospitals, seen as possible sites of contagion, as well as to a change in thresholds of behavioral problems acting as a trigger for admission requests from family relatives or referrals from treating clinicians. It is unclear from the study whether the reduction in admissions was contributed to most by the current pandemic or the lockdown imposed due to the pandemic.