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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescent mental health inpatient service use in England: An interrupted time-series analysis of national patient records

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2023

A. Tsiachristas ,
J. Holland ,
B. Guo ,
K. Sayal  and
A. Pari
A. Tsiachristas*
Affiliation:
Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford
J. Holland
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Nottingham
B. Guo
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Nottingham
K. Sayal
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Nottingham
A. Pari
Affiliation:
NHS England, London, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

During the COVID 19 pandemic children and young people (CYP) faced significant restrictions. The virus and restrictions also affected how health services could function, including mental health. Research analysing the COVID 19 pandemic is important to ensure dynamic and resilient service design in case of future national emergencies.

Objectives

To investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on CYP psychiatric admission trends during lockdowns 1 (started 26 March 2020) and 2 (started 20 November 2020) of the COVID 19 pandemic in England.

Methods

Routinely collected, retrospective, English, administrative data looking at the CYP hospital admissions, length of stay and patient demographics were analysed using an interrupted time series analysis to compare pre-pandemic service use with service use during COVID 19 lockdowns 1 and 2. The analysis used an ordinary least squares (OLS) approach with Newey–West standard errors to handle autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity.

Results

Table 1.Patient characteristics in the entire sample (n=6,250)

VariablePre-pandemicPost-pandemicTotal sample
(n=1,156)(n=94)(n=6,250)
Mean age at admission (SD) [Median; IQR]15.3 (1.7) [16;3]15.6 (1.6) [16;2]15.3 (1.7) [16;3]
Gender
Female70%72%70%
Missing1%2%1%
BAME background
Yes18%18%18%
Missing7%6%7%
Looked after
Yes11%8%11%
Missing14%13%14%
In full education
Yes43%34%43%
Missing35%47%35%
Mean number of admissions per patient (SD) [Median; IQR]1.7 (1.2) [1;1]1.2 (0.6) [1;0]1.7 (1.2) [1;1]
Mean length of stay (SD) [Median; IQR] n93 (94) [68;94] 6,06565 (65) [43;77] 7193 (94) [67;94] 6,136
Mean number of out-of-area admissions per patient (SD) [Median; IQR]0.48 (0.8) [0;1]0.33 (0.6) [0;1]0.48 (0.80) [0;1]

SD: standard deviation; IQR: Interquartile range

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Conclusions

During lockdown 1 and 2, psychiatric admissions for CYP were fewer and shorter. The rise in admissions for more deprived CYP and looked after children suggests these CYP may have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 66 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 31st European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2023 , pp. S340 - S341
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 (https://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), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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