Psychiatric emergency visit trends and characteristics in a mental health epicenter in Istanbul during COVID-19 lockdown
Open accessAbstract
Background We aimed to explore the impact of the preventive measures and partial lockdown to the psychiatric emergency department (PED) visits during COVID-19 pandemic in a mental health epicenter in Istanbul.Methods A total of 5839 patients admitted to PED during the lockdown period (LP) between March 30 and May 31, 2020, were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. Data of these patients were compared to those of patients in the same period in 2019 between April 1 and June 2, 2019 (non-LP). We also investigated the monthly number of PED visits and hospitalizations between March 1 and December 31, 2020, and compared it to the same period in 2019.Results The volume of PED visits and hospitalizations in LP decreased by 12% and 41.6%, respectively. The rates of patients presenting anxiety and depressive disorders and bipolar disorders were found to significantly increase in LP than non-LP (p < 0.001; p < 0.001; p < 0.01, respectively). Depressive disorders, prior history of mental illness, and aggressive behavior were found to predict frequent PED visits while decrease in age and male gender found to predict hospitalizations. Regarding suicide attempt, younger patients and those with new-onset mental disorders were found to be at high risk in LP. Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in PED visits were mostly with psychotic and bipolar disorders.Conclusion Policy-makers should focus on studies on mental health services to reorganize and enhance such services, which are crucial to prevent and manage adverse mental health consequences of the pandemic and congestion in PEDs.
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Four studies, representing five samples for each pandemic period, reported on police-referral rates before and during COVID-19 (prepandemic N=10,326; during pandemic N=9,396).
“Four studies, representing five samples for each of the two pandemic periods analyzed (prepandemic, N=10,326 patients; during pandemic, N=9,396 patients), reported on policereferral rates to PEDs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (9,13,27,48).”
From Referral of patients to psychiatric emergency departments by police: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [48]
The Methods and Results compare psychiatric emergency visits before and during the pandemic, but the passages on study variables and visit outcomes do not report police-referral rates. A search for police referrals found no such measure in our copy. The pooled patient totals and count of four studies also cannot be verified from this individual paper. (LLM, conf=0.75)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUsing data from four studies, the review could not establish a significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on police referrals to PEDs.
“Using data from four studies (9, 13, 27, 48), we could not establish a significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on police referrals to PEDs.”
From Referral of patients to psychiatric emergency departments by police: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [48]
The Methods (Study design and sample; page unavailable) say patients could arrive via law enforcement, but list no police-referral measure among the data extracted. The Results report changes in PED visits and hospitalizations, not police referrals. Searching for police and law-enforcement referrals found no comparison that could verify this study’s contribution to the review’s finding. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Yalçın, M., Baş, A., Bilici, R., Özdemir, Y. Ö., Beştepe, E. E., Kurnaz, S., Güneş, M., Kurt, V., & Koyu, E.
- Affiliations
- Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi (TR)
- Istanbul Commerce University (TR)
- Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital (TR)
- Corresponding author
- Yalçın, Murat
- Venue
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Published
- 2021-09-05
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2299-2310
- ISSN
- 0933-7954 (ISSN-L)
- 1433-9285
- PMC
- PMC8418687
- OpenAlex
- W3198121232
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 7
- FWCI
- 4.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychiatric care and mental health services
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › COVID-19 and healthcare impacts
- Keywords
- COVID-19 lockdown, psychiatric emergency department visits, psychiatric hospitalization, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, suicide attempts, aggression, mental health services
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Communicable Disease Control, Emergency Service, Hospital, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Retrospective Studies, Pandemics
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