Access to a psychiatric emergency setting during the COVID-19 pandemic: focus on youth populations

Introduction The COVID-19 outbreak and the related containment measures led to the emergence of psychological distress in youth populations, possibly due to concern for their families, social isolation, increased time spent on the Internet and social media, and anxiety about the future. Objectives The study aims to evaluate differences in the access of children, adolescents, and young adults to a psychiatric emergency setting before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Data concerning the psychiatric consultations carried out at the Emergency Department of the University Hospital of Perugia was collected. Socio-demographic and clinical information, including diagnostic and treatment features, was entered into an electronic database. We considered two different time spans, one before (01.06.2017-31.12.2018) and one after (01.06.2020-31.12.2021) the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The characteristics of consultations carried out before and after the pandemic outbreak were compared by means of bivariate analyses (p