Open AccessEffects after the lockdown on emergency room admissions for psychiatric evaluation: An observational study from the province of Forlì-Cesena, Italy
Author(s) -
Massimiliano Beghi,
Riccardo Brandolini,
Laura Biondi,
C. Corsini,
Carlo Fraticelli,
R.P. Sant’Angelo,
Giovanni De Paoli
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
emergency care journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2282-2054
pISSN - 1826-9826
DOI - 10.4081/ecj.2021.9827
Subject(s) - medicine , observational study , psychiatry , anxiety , covid-19 , retrospective cohort study , psychiatric history , emergency medicine , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The aim was to study the number of accesses to the Emergency Room (ER) requiring psychiatric evaluation in the four months following the lockdown period for the COVID-19 outbreak (May 4th, 2020-August 31th, 2020). The study is a retrospective longitudinal observational study of the ER admissions of the Hospitals of Cesena and Forlì (Emilia Romagna region) leading to psychiatric assessment. Sociodemographic variables, history for medical comorbidities or psychiatric disorders, reason for ER admission, psychiatric diagnosis at discharge and measures taken by the psychiatrist were collected. An increase of 9.4% of psychiatric assessments was observed. The difference was more pronounced in the first two months after lockdown, with a 21.7% increase of number of ER accesses, while after two months numbers were the same as those of the year before. Admission with anxiety symptoms and history of psychiatric disorder decreased significantly. Moreover, there is an age trend with an increasing age of admission.