Covid-19 pandemic may have unique effects on emergency admissions for pediatric psychopathology: A single-center study

Abstract

Objective: In December 2019, a new coronavirus was identified that caused an epidemic across China and a worldwide pandemic (COVID-19). We aimed to examine the admissions of the children to the emergency service with psychiatric symptoms by comparing retrospectively in terms of sociodemographic variables, diagnoses, psychiatric symptoms, and psychiatric treatments during and before the Covid-19 Pandemic.Methods: In our study, the first group consisted of the 170 patients who were consulted to child and adolescent psychiatry emergency service department between 11.03.2019 and 30.09.2019 and the second group consisted of the 102 patients who have consulted in the same period previously. The statistical analysis of the study was performed by using SPSS 23. The significant level was accepted as a p-value <0.05.Results: We found that child psychiatry applications decreased by 42% compared to the previous year. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of gender and age between the two groups (p> 0.05). The diagnosis of depression and anxiety disorders were found to be the most common diagnosis in both two groups (48.8%;42%, respectively). We observed an increase in diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders and a decrease in neurodevelopmental disorders among the children who applied to the emergency department during the Covid-19 Pandemic.Conclusion: Our results contribute the knowledge about the features of emergency administrations of children during the pandemic. Further research is crucial to ensure that child and adolescent psychiatry services are prepared in extraordinary situations such as epidemics.