ArticleBJPsych open2022
Lockdown stringency and paediatric self-harm presentations during COVID-19 pandemic: retrospective cohort study.
Article in BJPsych open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Self-Harm: A Meta-Analysis.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of intensive community care services for adolescents with acute psychiatric emergencies: findings from a feasibility multi-centre, parallel-group, single-blinded RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Trial
- Mental health of children and young people in the WHO Europe region.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Review
- Self-harm incidence among children and young people 2019-2023: time series analysis of electronic health records in Greater Manchester, England.BMJ mental health · 2025Article
- Exploring Support Preferences for Young Women Who Self-Harm: A Qualitative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- What aspects of the pandemic had the greatest impact on adolescent mental health: duration of lockdown or subjective experience?Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2024Article
- A country report: impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on involuntary psychiatric treatment in Austria.BJPsych open · 2023Article
- Psychiatric Boarding Patterns Among Publicly Insured Youths Evaluated by Mobile Crisis Teams Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Adolescent mental health problems in early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic were masked by lockdown measures and restrictions.BJPsych open · 2022Article
- Self-harm: a transdiagnostic marker of psychopathology and suicide risk during the COVID-19 pandemic?European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2022Article
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26 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundLockdown during the pandemic has had significant impacts on public mental health. Previous studies suggest an increase in self-harm and suicide in children and adolescents. There has been little research on the roles of stringent lockdown.
aimsTo investigate the mediating and predictive roles of lockdown policy stringency measures in self-harm and emergency psychiatric presentations.
methodThis was a retrospective cohort study. We analysed data of 2073 psychiatric emergency presentations of children and adolescents from 23 hospital catchment areas in ten countries, in March to April 2019 and 2020.
resultsLockdown measure stringency mediated the reduction in psychiatric emergency presentations (incidence rate ratio of the natural indirect effect [IRRNIE] = 0.41, 95% CI [0.35, 0.48]) and self-harm presentations (IRRNIE = 0.49, 95% CI [0.39, 0.60]) in 2020 compared with 2019. Self-harm presentations among male and looked after children were likely to increase in parallel with lockdown stringency. Self-harm presentations precipitated by social isolation increased with stringency, whereas school pressure and rows with a friend became less likely precipitants. Children from more deprived neighbourhoods were less likely to present to emergency departments when lockdown became more stringent.
conclusionsLockdown may produce differential effects among children and adolescents who self-harm. Development in community or remote mental health services is crucial to offset potential barriers to access to emergency psychiatric care, especially for the most deprived youths. Governments should aim to reduce unnecessary fear of help-seeking and keep lockdown as short as possible. Underlying mediation mechanisms of stringent measures and potential psychosocial inequalities warrant further research.
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