A nationwide study of COVID-19 impact on mental health-related presentations among children and adolescents to primary care practices in Australia

James Rufus John, Jahidur Rahman Khan, Ping I. Lin, Jitendra Jonnagaddala, Nan Hu, Josephine Belcher, Siaw Teng Liaw, Raghu Lingam, Valsamma Eapen

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4 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

This study explored the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health (MH)-related visits to general practices (GPs) among children and young people (CYP) up to 18 years of age in Australia. This study analysed national-level data captured by the NPS MedicineWise program on monthly CYP MH-related visits per 10,000 visits to GPs from January 2014 to September 2021. We considered the pre-COVID-19 period (January 2014–February 2020) and the COVID-19 period (March 2020–September 2021). We used a Bayesian structural time series (BSTS) model to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on MH-related GP visits per 10,000 visits. A total of 103,813 out of 7,690,874 visits to GP (i.e., about 135 per 10,000 visits) were related to MH during study period. The BSTS model showed a significant increase in the overall MH-related visits during COVID-19 period (33%, 95% Credible Interval (Crl) 8.5%–56%), particularly, visits related to depressive disorders (61%, 95% Crl 29%–91%). The greatest increase was observed among females (39%, 95% Crl 12%–64%) and those living in socioeconomically least disadvantaged areas (36%, 95% Crl 1.2–71%). Our findings highlight the need for resources to be directed towards at-risk CYP to improve MH outcomes and reduce health system burden.

Original languageEnglish
Article number115332
Number of pages7
JournalPsychiatry Research
Volume326
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2023

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Mental health
  • Paediatric health service
  • Primary care

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