ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2020
The Medium-Term Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Referrals to Secondary Care Mental Health Services: A Controlled Interrupted Time Series Study.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- 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 · 2026Pooled it
- Review: Mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and youth - a systematic review.Child and adolescent mental health · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- Trends in mental health referrals before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: retrospective population-based service evaluation in a single NHS trust.BJPsych open · 2026Article
- Discontinuity of social support among US adults with cognitive impairment before and after the confirmed diagnosis of dementia: a matched ambidirectional cohort study.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- COVID-19 and psychiatric disorders among young people: a cross-sectional study.International clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Comparing In-Person, Telephonic, and Video-Based Treatment of Depression in Adult Primary Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.The Permanente journal · 2025Article
- One-year post lockdown trajectories of mental health and impact of COVID-19 lockdown-related factors.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Reductions in inpatient and outpatient mental health care in germany during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic - What can we learn for a better crisis preparedness?European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Observational
- Snakes and Ladders: The experience of being referred to and seen by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.SSM. Mental health · 2024Article
- Outpatient mental health care during high incidence phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany - changes in utilization, challenges and post-COVID care.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
- In-Person and Teleconsultation Services at a National Hospital in Peru: Time Series Analysis of General and Psychiatric Care Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.JMIR mental health · 2024Observational
- Short-term changes in mental health help-seeking behaviors following exposure to multiple social stressors and a natural disaster.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Article
- Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Among Cisgender Gay and Bisexual Men During the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Time Series Analysis of a US National Cohort Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Mental Health in the Post-Lockdown Scenario: A Scientometric Investigation of the Main Thematic Trends of Research.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Article
- Retrospective Study of Psychiatric Hospitalizations in a West Texas Mental Health Treatment Facility during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Southern medical journal · 2023Article
- Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and previous pandemics, epidemics and economic crises on mental health: systematic review.BJPsych open · 2022Review
- Medium-term and peri-lockdown course of psychosocial burden during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study on patients with pre-existing mental disorders.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To date, there is a paucity of information regarding the effect of COVID-19 or lockdown on mental disorders. We aimed to quantify the medium-term impact of lockdown on referrals to secondary care mental health clinical services. We conducted a controlled interrupted time series study using data from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), UK (catchment population ~0.86 million). The UK lockdown resulted in an instantaneous drop in mental health referrals but then a longer-term acceleration in the referral rate (by 1.21 referrals per day per day, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.41-2.02). This acceleration was primarily for urgent or emergency referrals (acceleration 0.96, CI 0.39-1.54), including referrals to liaison psychiatry (0.68, CI 0.35-1.02) and mental health crisis teams (0.61, CI 0.20-1.02). The acceleration was significant for females (0.56, CI 0.04-1.08), males (0.64, CI 0.05-1.22), working-age adults (0.93, CI 0.42-1.43), people of White ethnicity (0.98, CI 0.32-1.65), those living alone (1.26, CI 0.52-2.00), and those who had pre-existing depression (0.78, CI 0.19-1.38), severe mental illness (0.67, CI 0.19-1.15), hypertension/cardiovascular/cerebrovascular disease (0.56, CI 0.24-0.89), personality disorders (0.32, CI 0.12-0.51), asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (0.28, CI 0.08-0.49), dyslipidemia (0.26, CI 0.04-0.47), anxiety (0.21, CI 0.08-0.34), substance misuse (0.21, CI 0.08-0.34), or reactions to severe stress (0.17, CI 0.01-0.32). No significant post-lockdown acceleration was observed for children/adolescents, older adults, people of ethnic minorities, married/cohabiting people, and those who had previous/pre-existing dementia, diabetes, cancer, eating disorder, a history of self-harm, or intellectual disability. This evidence may help service planning and policy-making, including preparation for any future lockdown in response to outbreaks.
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