ArticlePloS one2026
The effect of COVID-19 and socioeconomic inequalities on emergency department accesses for psychiatric conditions.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCOVID-19 produced a detrimental effect on mental health that could not be appropriately addressed due to a reduced accessibility of healthcare services, as patients with socioeconomic vulnerabilities faced the largest barriers in accessing healthcare during the pandemic. This study aimed to investigate emergency department (ED) accesses with a psychiatric diagnosis before and after COVID-19, with a specific focus on the role of socioeconomic factors.
methodsThis is a multicentre longitudinal retrospective study that involves a population-based open cohort of residents and National Health Service (NHS)beneficiaries aged ≥ 10, enrolled in three large Italian areas from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2021 (n = 5,159,363). The primary outcome of interest was the First Mental Health Emergency Access (FMHEA); sex, age, deprivation level, citizenship and groups of diagnosis were considered as covariates. Crude incidence rates were calculated comparing the two time periods (pre- and post-COVID-19) by each covariate. In the context of interrupted time series (ITS), incidence rate ratios (IRR) of FMHEAs with 95%CI were estimated via an ITS analysis using a step-change negative binomial model. Temporal trend of FMHEAs was investigated through an ITS analysis on their monthly numbers.
resultsDuring follow-up, 56,762 FMHEAs were observed. The multivariate analysis showed that before COVID-19, the rate of FMHEA was higher among the highly deprived (IRR: 1.28; 95%CI:1.22.-1.35 for highest vs lowest deprivation level), females, people aged ≤24 and ≥85 and immigrants. A significant interaction between the COVID-19 period and deprivation level was found: the probability of reduced FMHEA increased with the deprivation level. The greater impact of COVID-19 was found in the central age classes resulting in a reduction in the differences in FMHEA rates by age in the post-Covid-19 period.
conclusionCOVID-19 reduced incidence rates of ED accesses, but increased socioeconomic inequalities in the use of ED for mental health disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.