ArticleBJPsych open2023
A country report: impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on involuntary psychiatric treatment in Austria.
Article in BJPsych open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Human rights-based mental healthcare: new developments, introducing a themed series of papers.BJPsych open · 2026Article
- Lockdown COVID‑19: a stress test revealing more about the mental health system than psychopathology-A comparative analysis between Austria, Germany, and Italy.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Impact and predictive modeling of risk factors for involuntary psychiatric admissions before and during COVID-19: insights from a Romanian tertiary hospital.Frontiers in public health · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCoercive measures such as involuntary psychiatric admission are considered a last resort in the treatment of people with psychiatric disorders. So far, numerous factors have been identified that influence their use. However, the link between a pandemic - in particular, restrictions such as lockdowns - and the use of involuntary psychiatric admission is unclear.
aimTo examine the association between COVID-19 lockdowns and involuntary psychiatric admissions in Austria.
methodThis retrospective exploratory study assessed all involuntary psychiatric admissions and use of mechanical restraint in Austria, except for the federal state of Vorarlberg, between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020. Descriptive statistics and regression models were used.
resultsDuring the 3-year study period, 40 012 individuals (45.9% females, mean age 51.3 years) had 66 124 involuntary psychiatric admissions for an average of 10.9 days. Mechanical restraint was used during 33.9% of these admissions. In weeks of nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns (2020
conclusionsRestrictions such as lockdowns affect coercive measures and resulted in fewer but longer involuntary psychiatric admissions during weeks of lockdown in Austria. These results strengthen previous findings that showed the dependence of coercive measures on external factors, highlighting the need to further clarify causality and desired prevention effects when using coercive measures.
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