Evaluation of the psychiatric diagnosis of children and adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A sample from a university hospital

ABSTRACT

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses of children and adolescents who refered to the psychiatry outpatient clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: This study enrolled the patients who were presented to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinic between September 2019 and March 2020 and between September 2020 and March 2021. The patients were scanned retrospectively with the Nucleus outpatient clinic system. The data were analyzed with SSPS 21.0. Age, gender and psychiatric diagnosis of patients Results: were examined. This study enrolled 1157 patients with 10.8 mean age and 61.5% male participants. 53% (n = 622) of patients was diagnosed before pandemia and 46.2% (n = 535) of patients was diagnosed during pandemia. Before pandemia patients were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 40%, Anxiety Disorder (AD) 16.1%, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) 5.1%. During pandemia patients were diagnosed with ADHD 27.3%, AD 19.3%, ASD 5.6%. During the pandemia the number of female patients increased (p = 0.017), mean age of patients decreased (p = 0.035), the diagnosed ADHD rates decreased (p < 0.001) and the diagnosed AD (p = 0.024), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (p=0.001) rates increased. Conclusion: In our study the diagnosis of AD and MDD during pandemia increased and the diagnosis of ADHD decreased. Because of the online education during pandemia, number of ADHD patients decreased and increasing in diagnosis of AD and MDD might caused by phsycial and social limitations. In this period it is important to follow and treat the patients that already have psychiatric disorder like ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Turkish) Amac Cin'de baslayan ve tum dunyayi etkileyen COVID-19 salgini global bir saglik krizine donusmustur. Bu calismanin amaci, COVID-19 pandemisi sirasinda psikiyatri poliklinigine basvuran cocuk ve ergenlerin sosyodemografik ozelliklerini ve psikiyatrik tanilarini belirlemektir. Yontem AFSU cocuk psikiyatri poliklinigine Eylul 2019-Mart 2020 ve Eylul 2020-Mart 2021 tarihleri arasinda basvuran hastalar calismaya dahil edilmistir. Hastalar retrospektif olarak Nucleus poliklinik sistemi ile taranmistir. Veriler SSPS 21.0 ile analiz edilmistir. Vakalarin yas, cinsiyet ve psikiyatrik tanilari incelenmistir. Bulgular Calismaya 1157 hasta dahil edilmistir. Hastalarin yas ortalamasi 10,8 yil ve %61,5'i erkek cinsiyetteydi. Hastalarin %53,8'i (n = 622) pandemi oncesinde, %46,2'si (n = 535) pandemi sonrasinda basvuru yapmistir. Pandemi sonrasi donemde, pandemi oncesi doneme gore basvurular kiz cinsiyet yonunde artmistir (p = 0,017) ve basvuranlarin yas ortalamasi azalmistir (p = 0,035). Pandemi oncesinde basvuranlarin %40,0'i Dikkat Eksikligi ve Hiperaktivite Bozuklugu (DEHB), %16,1'i Anksiyete Bozuklugu (AB), %5,1'i Otizm Spektrum Bozuklugu (OSB) ana tanisi alirken, pandemi sonrasi basvuranlarin %27,3'u DEHB, %19,3'u AB, %5,6'si OSB ana tanisi almistir. Pandemi sonrasinda pandemi oncesine gore DEHB tanisi alma sikligi azalmistir (p < 0,001), AB (p = 0,024) ve Major Depresif Bozukluk (MDB) (p = 0,001) tanilarinda artis gorulmustur. Sonuc Calismamizda pandemi sonrasi AB ve MDB tanilarinin artis gosterdigi, DEHB tanisinin ise azaldigi gorulmustur. Pandemi sirasinda uzaktan egitim surecine gecilmesi, DEHB belirtileri nedeniyle yapilan basvurulari azaltirken ortaya cikan fiziksel ve sosyal kisitliliklar AB ve MDB tanilarini arttirmis olabilir. Bu donemde DEHB gibi mevcut psikiyatrik bozuklugu olan hastalarin takiplerinin ve tedavilerinin aksatilmamasi uzun donemde gidisat icin onem arz etmektedir. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)