Subjective mental health and need for care among psychiatric outpatients during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from an outreach initiative in Sweden

Importance

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restricts access to care for psychiatric patients. The physical and mental well-being of patients with severe mental illness in the current circumstances is unknown.

Objective

To evaluate physical and mental well-being, subjective mental health, and need for updated psychiatric management plans in a sample of patients with severe mental illness during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design

Cross-sectional study of structured telephone assessments conducted between April 23 and June 30, 2020.

Setting

Regional psychiatric outpatient care centre in Stockholm, Sweden.

Participants

Patients who had not been in contact with their psychiatric clinic between April 9 and April 23, 2020. A total of 1071 patients were contacted by phone.

Exposures

Occurrence of respiratory symptoms, changes in psychiatric symptoms, and the need for updated psychiatric management plans, as determined by the telephone assessors. Subjective mental health rated 0-100 by patients.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Self-rated physical, respiratory and psychiatric symptoms according to a semi-structured interview. Subjective mental health rated on a scale from 0-100.

Results

Patients (n = 1071) were on average 45 years old (SD = 16.9), of which 570 (53%) were female. Neurodevelopmental disorders, psychotic disorders, and bipolar disorder were the most common diagnostic categories. The majority of respondents reported no respiratory symptoms (86%), and few reported light (10%) or severe (4%) respiratory symptoms. Similarly, most patients reported no worsening in psychiatric symptoms (81%). For those who reported a worsening of psychiatric symptoms (19%), the psychiatric management plans that were already in place were deemed appropriate in most cases (16.5%), whereas 22 patients (2.5%) reported a worsening of psychiatric symptoms that warranted an earlier or immediate follow-up by their psychiatric clinic. Patients rated their subjective mental health on a 0-100 scale as 70.5 [95% CI 69 - 71.9] on average (n = 841). Response rates to the questions of the structured assessment varied from 79% - 82%.

Conclusions and Relevance

The majority of patients reported no respiratory symptoms, no change in psychiatric symptoms and a rather high subjective well-being. Patients in psychiatric care with a mental health care plan experienced stability in the management of their psychiatric symptoms and general well-being, and only a minority were in need of acute support during the early pandemic phase in Stockholm, Sweden.

Key Points