Impact of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on anxiety diagnosis in general practices in Germany.


Por: Jacob L, Smith L, Koyanagi A, Hans Oh, Tanislav C, Shin JI, Konrad M and Kostev K

Publicada: 1 nov 2021 Ahead of Print: 17 nov 2020
Categoría: Biological psychiatry

Resumen:
Little is known about the effects of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the diagnosis of anxiety disorder. Therefore, the goal of this study was to compare the number of adults with a diagnosis of anxiety disorder and the number of adults newly diagnosed with anxiety disorder in Germany between January-June 2019 and January-June 2020, and to identify potential differences in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, prescriptions and comorbidities between these patients. The study included patients with at least one consultation in one of 1140 general practices in Germany in January-June 2019 and January-June 2020. Sociodemographic characteristics included age and sex, while there were three families of drugs and nine common comorbidities available for the analysis. An increase in the number of patients with anxiety disorder was observed in 2020 compared with 2019 (January: +4%, p = 0.643; February: +4%, p = 0.825; March: +34%, p < 0.001; April: +8%, p = 0.542; May: +2%, p = 0.382; June: +19%, p = 0.043; and March-June: + 19%, p < 0.001). There was also an increase in the number of patients newly diagnosed with anxiety disorder between March-June 2020 and March-June 2019 (11,502 versus 9506; +21%, p-value<0.001). Antidepressants, anxiolytics and herbal sedatives were less frequently prescribed in patients newly diagnosed with anxiety disorder in 2020 than in 2019 (30.4% versus 35.6%, p-value<0.001). Finally, COPD (9.4% versus 7.9%, p-value<0.001) and asthma (11.3% versus 9.7%, p-value<0.001) were more frequent in 2020 than in 2019. Taken these findings together, public health measures are urgently needed to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety disorder.

Filiaciones:
Jacob L:
 Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 42, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08830, Spain

 Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, 78180, France

Smith L:
 The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

Koyanagi A:
 Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 42, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08830, Spain

 ICREA, Pg, Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona, 08010, Spain

Hans Oh:
 Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, 1149 Hill Street, Suite #1422, Los Angeles, CA, 90015, USA

Tanislav C:
 Department of Geriatrics and Neurology, Diakonie Hospital Jung Stilling Siegen, Germany

Shin JI:
 Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Konrad M:
 FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management, Frankfurt, Germany

Kostev K:
 Epidemiology, IQVIA, Frankfurt, Germany
ISSN: 00223956





JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
Editorial
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD OX5 1GB, ENGLAND, Reino Unido
Tipo de documento: Article
Volumen: 143 Número:
Páginas: 528-533
WOS Id: 000715673300013
ID de PubMed: 33243457
imagen Bronze, Green Published, Green Accepted

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