Mental Health Presentations to Christchurch Hospital Emergency Department During COVID-19 Lockdown.

Joyce, L R; Richardson, S K; McCombie, A; Hamilton, G J; Ardagh, M W

OBJECTIVE To describe mental health presentations to a tertiary emergency department in New Zealand during a national COVID-19 Lockdown. METHOD A retrospective, comparative cohort study in Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand. RESULTS There was a 3510 patient (37%) decrease in all presentations to Christchurch Emergency Department during the five week COVID-19 lockdown period from 26/03/2020 to 28/03/2020, compared to a 111 patient (1.2%) decrease in the same time period in the previous year (p < 0.00001). There is usually a seasonal reduction in mental health attendances at this time of year compared to the weeks before. In 2019 there was a 49 patient (9.8%) reduction in mental health presentations, while in 2020 there was a 193 patient (34%) reduction (p < 0.001). In 2020 the proportion of mental health attendances compared to all ED attendances during the five week lockdown period was similar to the five week pre-lockdown period (564/9460 vs. 371/5950, p = 0.48). The proportion of mental health patients presenting due to overdose increased by 6.5% (158/564 vs. 128/371, p = 0.035); those due to self-harm increased by 3.5% (35/564 vs. 36/371, p = 0.049). The proportion of mental health presentations due to anxiety, depression and other non-self-harm/overdose complaints decreased by 10% (371/564 vs. 207/371, p = 0.002). The proportion of overdoses of paracetamol and ibuprofen increased by 13.4% during lockdown (22/158 vs. 35/128, p = 0.005). CONCLUSION During the COVID-19 lockdown, both overall emergency department presentations as well as mental health-related presentations decreased. There was a relative increase in overdoses and self harm, particularly involving paracetamol and ibuprofen. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.