Severe and common mental disorder during COVID-19 confinement

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic was considered a public health emergency and has generated changes at the economic, political, psychological, and social levels. Previous studies carried out in the context of epidemics have shown highly reactive behaviors associated with quarantine that limit people´s functionality. The study population was defined into two categories: the group with severe mental disorder (which included major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), and the group with common mental disorder (which represented the rest of psychiatric emergency consultation diagnoses).

Objective: To determine the prevalence of people diagnosed with a severe mental disorder and common mental disorder during COVID-19 confinement between March and September 2020 in a reference hospital in the Colombian southwest located in Cali, Colombia; and to know mental health behaves in times of social isolation.

Methods: an observational, cross-sectional study was carried out, the sample studied corresponded to 1702 people (median age 39 years; IQR 28-55), 52.5% were men.

Results: The most frequent consultation diagnosis was schizophrenia (26.3%), followed by bipolar affective disorder (21.2%), anxiety disorder (18%), major depressive disorder (10.9%). Significant associations were found between severe mental disorders and sociodemographic variables (p <0.05).

Conclusions: During COVID-19 confinement, the most frequently diagnosed mental disorder in the psychiatric emergency department was schizophrenia, TAB, anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder.