Abstract
Introduction. From the beginning of the outbreak, there have been many reports of psychological distress due to the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, there is no Algerian data about the consequences of the Covid-19 on psychiatric services. We conducted a study to determine whether covid 19 is associated with changes in the rates of consultations as well prescriptions during the seven-month postdeclaration of the pandemic in Algeria, compared with the same period of 2019. The implications of the current results for psychiatric service provision in Algeria were briefly discussed. Method. We conducted a quantitative retrospective study by collecting the patient’s data from a computerized register containing the statistics of all patients who attended the center for psychiatric consultation, and copies of all prescriptions done during October, November, December of the years 2019 and 2020. Results. Preliminary analysis of patient’s medical records indicated a significant increase in patients center attendance, with a major increase in the number of consultants (765) during the period of the study in 2020 against (494) in 2019. We found a 54,85% increase in total consultations and 60% more prescribed medications in 2020 compared to 2019 of the same period. Conclusion. Our findings are consistent with other studies reporting an increased demand for mental health care and the rate of psychotropics prescriptions. There is a need to adapt to that huge demand plus the monitoring of side effects and paying attention to those with vulnerabilities. Further work is needed to establish the long-term impact on public mental health and the prevention of complications. Keywords: Covid-19, Coronavirus, Psychiatry, Algeria, Mental health.
Highlights
From the beginning of the outbreak, there have been many reports of psychological distress due to the Covid-19 pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic made a lot of changes in our lives with a considerable physical, psychological impact on the general population and a significant decrease in psychological well-being compared to before covid-19, as for patients with preexistent mental health problems [1], that needed appropriate coping capacities and good adaptive strategies to be able to surpass it
It has been reported that apart from being a stressor, it can cause a large variety of neuropsychiatric manifestations in health care workers and survivors of covid-19 attributed to the direct infection from the virus [1, 2]
Summary
From the beginning of the outbreak, there have been many reports of psychological distress due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We conducted a study to determine whether covid 19 is associated with changes in the rates of consultations as well prescriptions during the seven-month postdeclaration of the pandemic in Algeria, compared with the same period of 2019. Nous avons mené une étude pour déterminer si le covid 19 est associé à des changements dans les taux de consultations ainsi que la prescription au cours des sept-mois suivant la déclaration de la pandémie en Algérie par rapport à la même période en 2019. Nous avons mené une étude rétrospective quantitative en collectant les données des patients à partir d’un registre informatisé contenant les statistiques de tous les individus qui se sont rendus au centre pour une consultation psychiatrique, et des copies de toutes les prescriptions effectuées en octobre, novembre, décembre des années 2019 et 2020. D’autres travaux sont nécessaires pour établir l’impact à long terme sur la santé mentale publique et prévenir les complications
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