BACKGROUND The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children and young people (CYP) has been widely reported. Primary care electronic health records were utilised to examine trends in the diagnosing, recording and treating of these common mental disorders by ethnicity and social deprivation in Greater Manchester, England. METHODS Time-series analyses conducted using Greater Manchester Care Record (GMCR) data examined all diagnosed episodes of anxiety disorders and depression and prescribing of anxiolytics and antidepressants among patients aged 6-24 years. The 41-month observation period was split into three epochs: Pre-pandemic (1/2019-2/2020); Pandemic Phase 1 (3/2020-6/2021); Pandemic Phase 2 (7/2021-5/2022). Rate ratios for all CYP specific to sex, age, ethnicity, and neighbourhood-level Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintile were modelled using negative binomial regression. RESULTS Depression and anxiety disorder rates were highest in females, CYP aged 19-24, and White and 'Other' ethnic groups. During Pandemic Phase 1, rates for these diagnoses fell in all demographic subgroups and then rose to similar levels as those recorded pre-pandemic. In Pandemic Phase 2, rates in Black and Mixed-ethnicity females rose to a significantly greater degree (by 54% and 62%, respectively) than those in White females. Prescribing rates increased throughout the study period, with significantly greater rises observed in non-White females and males. The temporal trends were mostly homogeneous across deprivation quintiles. CONCLUSION The observed fluctuations in frequency of recorded common mental illness diagnoses likely reflect service accessibility and patients' differential propensities to consult as well as changing levels of distress and psychopathology in the population. However, psychotropic medication prescribing increased throughout the observation period, possibly indicating a sustained decline in mental health among CYP, and also clinicians' responses to problems presented. The comparatively greater increases in frequencies of diagnosis recording and medication prescribing among ethnic minority groups warrants further investigation.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行期间儿童和青少年常见精神疾病的诊断和处方的社会人口变化：初级保健电子健康记录的时间序列分析。


背景 COVID-19 大流行对儿童和青少年 (CYP) 心理健康的影响已被广泛报道。利用初级保健电子健康记录来研究英格兰大曼彻斯特地区按种族和社会剥夺划分的这些常见精神障碍的诊断、记录和治疗趋势。方法 使用大曼彻斯特护理记录 (GMCR) 数据进行时间序列分析，检查了 6-24 岁患者中所有诊断出的焦虑症和抑郁症发作情况以及抗焦虑药和抗抑郁药的处方情况。 41个月的观察期分为三个时期：大流行前（1/2019-2/2020）；大流行第一阶段（3/2020-6/2021）；大流行第二阶段（7/2021-5/2022）。使用负二项式回归对特定于性别、年龄、种族和社区级多重剥夺指数 (IMD) 五分位数的所有 CYP 比率进行建模。结果 女性、19-24 岁的 CYP、白人和“其他”族裔群体的抑郁症和焦虑症发病率最高。在大流行的第一阶段，所有人口亚组的这些诊断率均下降，然后升至与大流行前记录的相似水平。在大流行的第二阶段，黑人和混血女性的发病率上升幅度明显高于白人女性（分别上升 54% 和 62%）。在整个研究期间，处方率有所增加，其中非白人女性和男性的增幅显着更大。剥夺五分位数的时间趋势大多是同质的。 结论 观察到的常见精神疾病诊断频率的波动可能反映了服务的可及性和患者不同的咨询倾向以及人群中痛苦和精神病理学水平的变化。然而，在整个观察期间，精神药物处方量有所增加，这可能表明 CYP 的心理健康状况持续下降，也表明临床医生对所出现问题的反应。少数族裔群体的诊断记录和用药频率相对较高，值得进一步调查。