ISSN: 2639-2038
Authors: Turabian JL*
Objective: To describe incidence of new cases and decompensations of previous cases of anxiety and depression and assess its characteristics and implications in health care. Methodology: A retrospective and descriptive study was carried out on clinical and epidemiological variables, in new or known patients who got out of control, with anxiety or depression, and who consulted in general medicine office at a health center in Toledo, Spain, from March 1 to May 31, 2020. Results: The “minimum incidence†(patients who consult the GP) of new cases of anxiety / depression or decompensation of previous stable ones, during the three months of greatest intensity of the COVID-19 outbreak in Toledo (Spain) was 2.3% inhabitants. These patients were mostly women, of middle age, predominantly with anxiety. 33% of the chronic diseases of these patients were mental disorders. Psychotropic drugs were prescribed or its doses were increased in a quarter of the patients. Only 4% presented COVID-19, and 11% reported contact with COVID-19. 17% were socio-health workers. About 50% required sick leave. Conclusion: The incidence of new cases of anxiety/depression or decompensation of previous stable ones would imply that for Spain with 46,000,000 inhabitants there would be 1 million new patients in the period March-May 2020, and a third of them treated with psychotropic drugs. Caution should be exercised to creating more healthcare services that generate even more demand, and avoiding medicalization due to the exaggerated use of drugs.
Keywords: Coronavirus; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Anxiety; Depression; Mental Disorders; General Practice; Epidemiology; Global Burden of Disease
