Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32368994›Full record

ArticleIrish journal of psychological medicine2020

Psychiatric hospitalization rates in Italy before and during COVID-19: did they change? An analysis of register data.

M Clerici, F Durbano, F Spinogatti, A Vita, G de Girolamo, R Micciolo

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Article in Irish journal of psychological medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
81citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

81 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Utilization of mental health services during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic - a systematic review and meta-analysis.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026
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21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

M Clerici *Department of Mental Health and Addiction, ASST of Monza, Monza, Italy.
F Durbano *Department of Mental Health and Addiction, ASST of Melegnano e della Martesana, Milan, Italy.
F Spinogatti *Department of Mental Health and Addiction, ASST of Cremona, Cremona CR, Italy.
A Vita *Department of Mental Health and Addiction, ASST of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
G de Girolamo *UOPEV, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1611-8324
R Micciolo *Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

OBJECTIVES.: To assess admission rates to seven General Hospital Psychiatric Wards (GHPWs) located in the Lombardy Region in the 40 days after the start of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, compared to similar periods of 2020 and 2019. METHODS.: Anonymized data from the regional psychiatric care register have been obtained and analyzed. The seven GHPWs care for approximately 1.4 million inhabitants and have a total of 119 beds. RESULTS.: In the 40-day period (February 21-March 31, 2020) after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy, compared to a similar 40-day period prior to February 21, and compared to two 40-day periods of 2019, there has been a marked reduction in psychiatric admission rates. The reduction was explained by voluntary admissions, while there was not a noticeable reduction for involuntary admissions. The reduction was visible for all diagnostic groups, except for a group of 'Other' diagnoses, which includes anxiety disorders, neurocognitive disorders, etc. CONCLUSIONS.: Large-scale pandemics can modify voluntary admission rates to psychiatric facilities in the early phases following pandemic onset. We suggest that the reduction in admission rates may be due to fear of hospitals, seen as possible sites of contagion, as well as to a change in thresholds of behavioral problems acting as a trigger for admission requests from family relatives or referrals from treating clinicians. It is unclear from the study whether the reduction in admissions was contributed to most by the current pandemic or the lockdown imposed due to the pandemic.

Indexed as

COVID-19HospitalizationHumansItalyMental DisordersMental Health ServicesPatient AdmissionRegistriesCOVID-19disasterhospital admission

Identifiers

PMID32368994
PMCPMC7264453

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.