Paediatric hospital admissions for psychiatric and psychosocial reasons during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Increases in youth psychiatric presentations to out-patient and emergency department settings during COVID-19 have been reported. This study, using data from five hospitals in Ireland, examines changes in the number and type of paediatric admissions during COVID-19 (March 2020 – February 2021) compared to the previous two years. ICD-10 classification was used to establish admissions with mental, behavioural, neuro-developmental disorders and psychosocial reasons (MBN-PS). Overall hospital admissions fell by 25.3%, while MBN-PS fell by only 2.6%, mostly during an initial lockdown. Admissions for MBN-PS increased in July-August (9.2%), increased further in September-December (28.3%), returning to pre-COVID-19 levels in January–February 2021. Significant increases were observed among youths with anorexia nervosa (47.8%), other eating disorders (42.9%), and admissions for anxiety (29.6%), with these effects relating to females only. Although admissions for self-harm increased (3%) and rates of ASD admissions reduced (17%), these were not statistically significant. The disproportionate increase in admissions for MBN-PS compared to medical admissions suggests an adverse effect of COVID-19 on youth mental health, for females in particular, and supports previous reports of a pandemic specific increase in eating psychopathology. Combined community and acute service delivery and capacity planning are urgently needed given the prior underfunding of services pre-pandemic.

Keywords:

• Child and adolescent mental health
• paediatric mental health
• COVID-19
• hospital admissions
• psychiatric
• psychosocial
• eating disorders

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Dr. Conor Deasy and Dr. Ciara Martin for supporting this project. We would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the HIPE teams at each of the hospitals in compiling the data.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

The CUPID COVID-19 Project is funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) under the HRB COVID-19 Pandemic Rapid Response Funding call (grant number: COV19-2020-076).