[Psychiatric Emergency Admissions and Inpatient Length of Stay Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany]. / Psychiatrische Notfallaufnahmen und stationäre Aufenthaltsdauer vor und während der COVID-19-Pandemie in Deutschland.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The impact of the COVID-19 year on the number of daily psychiatric emergency admissions and length of stay was compared with previous years. METHODS: In a retrospective study, the four quarters of 2020 of several psychiatric hospitals in Germany were statistically compared with the respective quarters of 2018 and 2019. RESULTS: A total of 73,412 cases was analyzed. In the 2nd quarter of 2020, the number of daily admissions was significantly lower as compared to the control period (59.1 vs. 70.7; incidence rate ratio [95 % confidence interval] 0.81 [0.69; 0.96]; p = 0.012). Length of stay was numerically but not significantly different as compared to the control periods. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact on inpatient psychiatric care. In the future, multimodal care structures must ensure the care of severely mentally ill people in crisis situations.