Trends in postpartum mental health care before and during COVID-19.
Health Serv Res
; 57(6): 1342-1347, 2022 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2019041
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To assess the impact of COVID-19 on trends in postpartum mental health diagnoses and utilization of psychotherapy and prescription drug treatment. DATA SOURCES Data were obtained from a large, national health insurance claims database that tracks individuals longitudinally. STUDYDESIGN:
We used interrupted time series models to examine changes in trends of postpartum mental health diagnoses before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and t-tests to examine differences in treatment. DATA EXTRACTIONMETHODS:
We used billing codes to identify individuals who received mental health-related diagnoses and treatment in the first 90 days after a birth hospitalization. We excluded individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and those with an unknown payer at delivery. PRINCIPALFINDINGS:
Compared to the pre-pandemic period, the trend in new postpartum mental health diagnoses increased significantly in the post-COVID-19 period (0.06 percentage points [95%CI 0.01, 0.11]). Over 12 months, the percentage of new diagnoses was 5.0% greater relative to what would be expected in absence of COVID-19. The percentage of diagnosed individuals who did not receive treatment increased from 50.4% to 52.7% (p = 0.003).CONCLUSIONS:
Findings point to an urgent need to improve screening and treatment pathways for perinatal individuals in the wake of COVID-19.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Bipolar Disorder
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Reviews
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
Language:
English
Journal:
Health Serv Res
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
1475-6773.14051
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