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Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill?
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a higher incidence of depression and a worsening of psychiatric conditions, while pre-existing constraints of the healthcare system and safety regulations limited psychiatric care. AIMS: We investigated the impact of the pandemic on the clinical care of patie...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10569605/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37840810 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1198632 |
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author | Aichholzer, Mareike Schiweck, Carmen Uckermark, Carmen Hamzehloiya, Tirage Reif-Leonhard, Christine Golbach, Rejane Reif, Andreas Edwin Thanarajah, Sharmili |
author_facet | Aichholzer, Mareike Schiweck, Carmen Uckermark, Carmen Hamzehloiya, Tirage Reif-Leonhard, Christine Golbach, Rejane Reif, Andreas Edwin Thanarajah, Sharmili |
author_sort | Aichholzer, Mareike |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a higher incidence of depression and a worsening of psychiatric conditions, while pre-existing constraints of the healthcare system and safety regulations limited psychiatric care. AIMS: We investigated the impact of the pandemic on the clinical care of patients with a single episode (SE-MDD) or major depressive disorder (MDD) in Germany. METHODS: Nationwide inpatient data were extracted from the German Institute for Hospital Remuneration System for 2020 and 2021 (depression data) and the Robert Koch Institute (COVID-19 incidence). Changes in inpatients were tested with linear regression models. Local cases of depression in our department compared to 2019 were explored with one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's test. RESULTS: Across Germany, the inpatient numbers with both SE-MDD and MDD declined by more than 50% during three out of four COVID-19 waves. Higher COVID-19 incidence correlated with decreased inpatient numbers. In our department, fewer MDD inpatients were treated in 2020 (adj. p < 0.001) and 2021 (adj. p < 0.001) compared to 2019, while the number of SE-MDD inpatients remained stable. During this period fewer elective and more emergency inpatients were admitted. In parallel, MDD outpatient admissions increased in 2021 compared to 2019 (adj. p = 0.002) and 2020 (adj. p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: During high COVID-19 infection rates, MDD patients received less inpatient care, which might cause poor outcomes in the near future. These data highlight the necessity for improved infrastructure in the in- and outpatient domains to facilitate accessibility to adequate care. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10569605 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-105696052023-10-13 Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? Aichholzer, Mareike Schiweck, Carmen Uckermark, Carmen Hamzehloiya, Tirage Reif-Leonhard, Christine Golbach, Rejane Reif, Andreas Edwin Thanarajah, Sharmili Front Psychiatry Psychiatry BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a higher incidence of depression and a worsening of psychiatric conditions, while pre-existing constraints of the healthcare system and safety regulations limited psychiatric care. AIMS: We investigated the impact of the pandemic on the clinical care of patients with a single episode (SE-MDD) or major depressive disorder (MDD) in Germany. METHODS: Nationwide inpatient data were extracted from the German Institute for Hospital Remuneration System for 2020 and 2021 (depression data) and the Robert Koch Institute (COVID-19 incidence). Changes in inpatients were tested with linear regression models. Local cases of depression in our department compared to 2019 were explored with one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's test. RESULTS: Across Germany, the inpatient numbers with both SE-MDD and MDD declined by more than 50% during three out of four COVID-19 waves. Higher COVID-19 incidence correlated with decreased inpatient numbers. In our department, fewer MDD inpatients were treated in 2020 (adj. p < 0.001) and 2021 (adj. p < 0.001) compared to 2019, while the number of SE-MDD inpatients remained stable. During this period fewer elective and more emergency inpatients were admitted. In parallel, MDD outpatient admissions increased in 2021 compared to 2019 (adj. p = 0.002) and 2020 (adj. p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: During high COVID-19 infection rates, MDD patients received less inpatient care, which might cause poor outcomes in the near future. These data highlight the necessity for improved infrastructure in the in- and outpatient domains to facilitate accessibility to adequate care. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-09-27 /pmc/articles/PMC10569605/ /pubmed/37840810 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1198632 Text en Copyright © 2023 Aichholzer, Schiweck, Uckermark, Hamzehloiya, Reif-Leonhard, Golbach, Reif and Edwin Thanarajah. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychiatry Aichholzer, Mareike Schiweck, Carmen Uckermark, Carmen Hamzehloiya, Tirage Reif-Leonhard, Christine Golbach, Rejane Reif, Andreas Edwin Thanarajah, Sharmili Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? |
title | Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? |
title_full | Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? |
title_fullStr | Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? |
title_full_unstemmed | Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? |
title_short | Impact of COVID-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in Germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? |
title_sort | impact of covid-19 on the treatment of depressive patients in germany–a gap in care for the mentally ill? |
topic | Psychiatry |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10569605/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37840810 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1198632 |
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