Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38016758›Full record

ArticleCMAJ open

Utilization of physician mental health services by birthing parents with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based, repeated cross-sectional study.

John S Moin, Simone N Vigod, Lesley Plumptre, Natalie Troke, Irene Papanicolas, Walter P Wodchis, Geoff Anderson

Open access · diamondAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in CMAJ open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 39% of its field
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. COVID-19 in Rural Ontario Communities: Exploring Women's Mental Health During a Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
    Article
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 at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

John S MoinInstitute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (Moin, Wodchis, Anderson), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Women's College Hospital (Vigod); ICES Central (Plumptre, Troke), Toronto, Ont.; The London School of Economics and Political Science (Papanicolas), Health Policy London, London, UK; Brown School of Public Health (Papanicolas), Providence, RI; Institute for Better Health (Wodchis), Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ont. sina_moin@live.com.
Simone N VigodInstitute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (Moin, Wodchis, Anderson), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Women's College Hospital (Vigod); ICES Central (Plumptre, Troke), Toronto, Ont.; The London School of Economics and Political Science (Papanicolas), Health Policy London, London, UK; Brown School of Public Health (Papanicolas), Providence, RI; Institute for Better Health (Wodchis), Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ont.
Lesley PlumptreInstitute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (Moin, Wodchis, Anderson), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Women's College Hospital (Vigod); ICES Central (Plumptre, Troke), Toronto, Ont.; The London School of Economics and Political Science (Papanicolas), Health Policy London, London, UK; Brown School of Public Health (Papanicolas), Providence, RI; Institute for Better Health (Wodchis), Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ont.
Natalie TrokeInstitute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (Moin, Wodchis, Anderson), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Women's College Hospital (Vigod); ICES Central (Plumptre, Troke), Toronto, Ont.; The London School of Economics and Political Science (Papanicolas), Health Policy London, London, UK; Brown School of Public Health (Papanicolas), Providence, RI; Institute for Better Health (Wodchis), Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ont.
Irene PapanicolasInstitute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (Moin, Wodchis, Anderson), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Women's College Hospital (Vigod); ICES Central (Plumptre, Troke), Toronto, Ont.; The London School of Economics and Political Science (Papanicolas), Health Policy London, London, UK; Brown School of Public Health (Papanicolas), Providence, RI; Institute for Better Health (Wodchis), Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ont.
Walter P WodchisInstitute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (Moin, Wodchis, Anderson), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Women's College Hospital (Vigod); ICES Central (Plumptre, Troke), Toronto, Ont.; The London School of Economics and Political Science (Papanicolas), Health Policy London, London, UK; Brown School of Public Health (Papanicolas), Providence, RI; Institute for Better Health (Wodchis), Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ont.
Geoff AndersonInstitute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (Moin, Wodchis, Anderson), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Women's College Hospital (Vigod); ICES Central (Plumptre, Troke), Toronto, Ont.; The London School of Economics and Political Science (Papanicolas), Health Policy London, London, UK; Brown School of Public Health (Papanicolas), Providence, RI; Institute for Better Health (Wodchis), Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ont.
Brown University · USLondon School of Economics and Political Science · GBWomen's College Hospital · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and nonpharmaceutical interventions that reduced the spread of infection had impacts on social interaction, schooling and employment. Concerns have been raised about the impact of these disruptions on the mental health of high-risk groups, including birthing parents of young children.

methodsThis population-based, repeated cross-sectional study used health administrative databases in Ontario, Canada, to link children to birth parents and to measure subsequent mental health visits of birthing parents of younger (age 0-5 yr) and school-aged (6-12 yr) children. We used a repeated cross-sectional study design to estimate expected rates for visits to physicians for mental health diagnoses, based on prepandemic trends (March 2016-February 2020), and to compare those to observed visit rates during the March 2020-November 2021 period of the pandemic.

resultsWe identified 2 cohorts: 986 870 birthing parents of younger children and 1 012 997 birthing parents of school-aged children. In both cohorts, observed visit rates were higher than expected in the June 2020-August 2020 quarter (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-1.16; and IRR 1.10, 95% CI 1.07-1.13, respectively), peaked in December 2020-February 2021 (IRR 1.24, 95% CI 1.20-1.27; and IRR 1.20, 95% CI 1.16-1.23) and remained higher than expected in September 2021-November 2021 (IRR 1.12, 95% CI 1.08-1.16; and IRR 1.09, 95% CI 1.06-1.13). The increases were driven mostly by visits for mood and anxiety disorders, and trends in increases were similar across physician type, birthing-parent age and deprivation quintile.

interpretationThe COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased mental health visits for parents of young children. This raises concerns about mental health impacts and highlights the need to address these concerns.

Identifiers

PMID38016758
PMCPMC10699288
OpenAlexW4389101048

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.