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Psychiatric Admissions, Referrals, and Suicidal Behavior Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Denmark: A Time-Trend Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

T. Rømer ,
R. Christensen ,
S. Blomberg ,
F. Folke ,
H. Christensen  and
M. Benros
T. Rømer*
Affiliation:
University Hospital Copenhagen, Copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health (core), Hellerup, Denmark
R. Christensen
Affiliation:
University Hospital Copenhagen, Copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health (core), Hellerup, Denmark
S. Blomberg
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services, Ballerup, Denmark
F. Folke
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services, Ballerup, Denmark
H. Christensen
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services, Ballerup, Denmark
M. Benros
Affiliation:
University Hospital Copenhagen, Copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health (core), Hellerup, Denmark
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected mental health globally, but the impact on referrals and admissions to mental health services remains understudied.

Objectives

To assess patterns in psychiatric admissions, referrals, and suicidal behavior before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark.

Methods

Utilizing hospital and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) health records covering 46% of the Danish population, we compared psychiatric in-patients, referrals to mental health services and suicidal behavior in years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to levels during the first lockdown (March 11 – May 17, 2020), inter-lockdown period (May 18 – December 15, 2020), and second lockdown (December 16, 2020 – February 28, 2021) using negative binomial models.

Results

The rate of psychiatric in-patients declined compared to pre-pandemic levels (RR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.94 – 0.96, p < 0.01). Referrals were not significantly different (RR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.92 – 1.10, p = 0.91) during the pandemic; neither was suicidal behavior among hospital contacts (RR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.94 – 1.14, p = 0.48) nor EMS contacts (RR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.00 – 1.18, p = 0.06). In the age group <18, an increase in the rate of psychiatric in-patients (RR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.07 – 1.15, p < 0.01) was observed during the pandemic; however, this did not exceed the pre-pandemic, upwards trend in psychiatric hospitalizations in the age group <18 (p = 0.78).

Conclusions

The pandemic was associated with a decrease in psychiatric hospitalizations. No significant change was observed in referrals and suicidal behavior.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

AdmissionsReferralsSuicideCovid-19
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S532
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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