Publication date: Oct 08, 2024

This study examined psychiatric hospitalisation patterns in San Salvatore Hospital in L’ Aquila (Italy), during two major crises: the 2009 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The investigation spans two four-year periods, from 2008 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2022, with a focus on the trimester around the earthquake and the first wave/lockdown of the pandemic. We analysed weekly psychiatric unit admissions of adults diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol/substance use disorder. Four-year periods around the Earthquake and COVID-19 Lockdown were divided into sixteen trimesters, and Generalised linear models were used to analyse the relationship between weekly hospitalisation frequency and trimesters by diagnosis using a Poisson distribution. A total of 1195 and 1085 patients were admitted to the psychiatric ward in the 2008-2011 and 2019-2022 periods, respectively. Weekly hospitalisations in the earthquake trimester were lower than during the previous one for all diagnoses (schizophrenia spectrum: -41. 9%, p = 0. 040; major depression: -56. 7%, p = 0. 046; bipolar disorder: -69. 1%, p = 0. 011; alcohol/substance use disorder: -92. 3%, p = 0. 013). This reduction persisted for 21, 18, and 33 months after the earthquake for schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and alcohol/substance use disorders, respectively. Contrarily, patterns of weekly admissions around the COVID-19 lockdown remained substantially stable in the short term. However, a consistent long-term hospitalisation increase for all diagnoses characterised the first half of 2022 (the cessation of anti-COVID-19 measures; schizophrenia spectrum: +68. 6%, p = 0. 014; major depression: +133. 3%, p = 0. 033; bipolar disorder: +180. 0%, p = 0. 034; alcohol/substance use disorder: +475. 0%, p = 0. 001). The present study indicated that exposure to major health crises can have both short- and long-term effects on psychiatric ward admission, holding significant implications for current and future major health emergency management strategies.

Open Access PDF

Semantics

Original Article