Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34784994›Full record

ArticleBJPsych open2021

Impact of the first COVID-19 outbreak on mental health service utilisation at a Dutch mental health centre: retrospective observational study.

Man Wei Chow, Eric O Noorthoorn, André I Wierdsma, Marte van der Horst, Nini de Boer, Sinan Guloksuz, Jurjen J Luykx

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BJPsych open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed, 2 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

17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 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
    Pooled it
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  3. Modeling effect: How treatment intensity and duration impact depression recurrence.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025
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  11. Prescriptions of psychopharmacologic drugs in Austria in 2019 and 2020 - Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2022
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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

7 authors.

Man Wei ChowDepartment of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; and Department of Translational Neuroscience, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3544-1426
Eric O NoorthoornDepartment Training of Psychiatrists, GGNet Mental Health, The Netherlands.
André I WierdsmaDepartment of Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Centre, The Netherlands.
Marte van der HorstDepartment of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; Department of Translational Neuroscience, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; and Department Training of Psychiatrists, GGNet Mental Health, The Netherlands.
Nini de BoerDepartment of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; and Department of Translational Neuroscience, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Sinan GuloksuzDepartment of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands; and Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, Connecticut, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6626-1874
Jurjen J LuykxDepartment of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; Department of Translational Neuroscience, UMC Utrecht Brain Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; and Department Training of Psychiatrists, GGNet Mental Health, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6439-2774

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPrevious studies into mental health service utilisation during the COVID-19 pandemic are limited to a few countries or specific type of service. In addition, data on changes in telepsychiatry are currently lacking.

aimsWe aimed to investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with changes in mental health service utilisation, including telepsychiatry, and how these changes were distributed among patients with mental illness during the first COVID-19 outbreak.

methodThis retrospective study obtained routinely assessed healthcare data from a large Dutch mental healthcare institute. Data from the second quarter of 2020 (the first COVID-19 outbreak period) were compared with the pre-pandemic period between January 2018 and March 2020. Time-series analyses were performed with the quasi-Poisson generalised linear model, to examine the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown and the overall trend of mental health service utilisation per communication modality and diagnostic category.

resultsWe analysed 204 808 care contacts of 28 038 patients. The overall number of care contacts in the second quarter of 2020 remained the same as in the previous 2 years, because the number of video consultations significantly increased (B = 2.17, P = 0.488 × 10-3) as the number of face-to-face out-patient contacts significantly decreased (B = -0.98, P = 0.011). This was true for all different diagnostic categories, although this change was less pronounced in patients with psychotic disorders.

conclusionsDiminished face-to-face out-patient contacts were well-compensated by the substantial increase of video consultations during the first COVID-19 outbreak in The Netherlands. This increase was less pronounced for psychotic disorders. Further research should elucidate the need for disorder-specific digital mental healthcare delivery.

Indexed as

COVID-19face-to-face out-patient contactmental health service utilisationPsychotic disorderstelepsychiatry

Identifiers

PMID34784994
PMCPMC8632375

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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.