Time-Series Trends of Depressive Levels of Korean Adults During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea

Kim, Seok Joo; Sohn, Sunju; Yunkyeung, Choi; Hyun, Jinhee; Hee-Guk, Kim; Lee, Jong-Sun; Lee, So Hee; Lee, Yu Ri; Paik, Jong Woo

doi:10.30773/pi.2022.0178

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Our findings are largely consistent with the previous literature that has reported an increased prevalence of depressive mood during the pandemic [7][8][9][10][11]. However, the results from EMR-based studies that focused on clinically confirmed incident diagnoses were mixed.…”

Section: Rising Incidence Of Medically Attended Depressionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…A meta-analysis estimated an additional 53 million cases of depression and a 27.6% increase in its global prevalence in 2020 due to COVID-19-related illnesses and reduced mobility [7], which affected individuals across age groups [8][9][10]. In Hong Kong, a survey showed a consistent mental health crisis with a twofold increase in depression symptoms and a 28.3% rise in the stress level even during the well-managed smallscale outbreaks [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on depression incidence and healthcare service use among patients with depression: an interrupted time-series analysis from a 9-year population-based study

Chan,

Chai,

Chan

et al. 2024

BMC Med

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Background Most studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on depression burden focused on the earlier pandemic phase specific to lockdowns, but the longer-term impact of the pandemic is less well-studied. In this population-based cohort study, we examined the short-term and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on depression incidence and healthcare service use among patients with depression. Methods Using the territory-wide electronic medical records in Hong Kong, we identified all patients aged ≥ 10 years with new diagnoses of depression from 2014 to 2022. We performed an interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis to examine changes in incidence of medically attended depression before and during the pandemic. We then divided all patients into nine cohorts based on year of depression incidence and studied their initial and ongoing service use patterns until the end of 2022. We applied generalized linear modeling to compare the rates of healthcare service use in the year of diagnosis between patients newly diagnosed before and during the pandemic. A separate ITS analysis explored the pandemic impact on the ongoing service use among prevalent patients with depression. Results We found an immediate increase in depression incidence (RR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.10–1.33, p < 0.001) in the population after the pandemic began with non-significant slope change, suggesting a sustained effect until the end of 2022. Subgroup analysis showed that the increases in incidence were significant among adults and the older population, but not adolescents. Depression patients newly diagnosed during the pandemic used 11% fewer resources than the pre-pandemic patients in the first diagnosis year. Pre-existing depression patients also had an immediate decrease of 16% in overall all-cause service use since the pandemic, with a positive slope change indicating a gradual rebound over a 3-year period. Conclusions During the pandemic, service provision for depression was suboptimal in the face of increased demand generated by the increasing depression incidence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate the need to improve mental health resource planning preparedness for future public health crises.

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Section: Rising Incidence Of Medically Attended Depressionsupporting

confidence: 90%