[The influence of corona related factors on acute psychiatric admissions]

Since the COVID-19 outbreak there are warnings for an increase of psychological complaints in the general population and in psychiatric patients.

To gain insight in corona associated factors that can provoke psychiatric decompensation, wherefore admission in our psychiatric clinic was necessary. To investigate if the admission rate of our clinic increased since the start of the quarantine measures.

From the 16th of March until the 1st of June 2020 we collected data in our psychiatric acute admission clinic in Amsterdam of patients with a corona associated triggering factor for the current psychiatric decompensation. Additionally, the admission rates between the 16th of March and the 1st of June 2020 were compared with the admission rates in the same period in 2019.

In 25 of 120 admitted patients there was a corona associated triggering factor. The disruption of daily routine and increased stress due to corona were mentioned most often. In the studied period there were significantly more admissions in 2020 compared to 2019.

The corona crisis can contribute to psychiatric decompensation. In a fifth of the admitted patients a corona associated triggering factor was mentioned. Furthermore we observed a higher demand for psychiatric admissions since the start of the quarantine measures in comparison with 2019.