Child psychiatric emergency consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors: Hernandez-Calle et al. 2022.

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in pediatric psychiatric emergency department visits, especially for suicide-related reasons.

Adult and pediatric psychiatric emergency department (ED) visits decreased during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic would include increases in mental health care needs, especially among vulnerable groups such as children and adolescents.

This study examined changes in the number of mental health ED visits overall and by specific diagnosis among patients under 18 years of age following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Madrid. Using clinical records of all psychiatric ED visits at Hospital Universitario La Paz between October 2018 and April 2021, trends were compared before and after the day of the first ED COVID-19 case (March 1, 2020). For this purpose, records of all psychiatric ED visits at La Paz University Hospital between October 2018 and April 2021 were used. Trends before and after the first recorded case were compared (March 1, 2020).

The results indicate that, in March 2020, there was a marked initial 13% decrease in monthly mental health ED visits. After April 2020, there was a subsequent increasing trend of 3.4% in additional monthly mental health ED visits.

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in pediatric psychiatric ED visits, especially for suicide-related reasons. These data reinforce the crucial role of EDs in the management of acute mental health problems among youth and highlight the need for renewed efforts to improve access to care outside of and during acute crises during the pandemic and its aftermath.

Reference to original paper:

Hernández-Calle, D., Andreo-Jover, J., Curto-Ramos, J., Martínez, D. G., Valor, L. V., Juárez, G., ... & Martínez-Alés, G. (2022). Pediatric mental health emergency visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, 10(1), 53-57. https://doi.org/10.2478/sjcapp-2022-0005