EPaper

Covid-19 drives up mental illness cases

Tamar Kahn Science & Health Writer kahnt@businesslive.co.za

The Western Cape’s top health official has sounded the alarm about rising rates of mental illness amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing a steady increase in the number of people with acute psychotic and behavioural disorders arriving at emergency centres in recent months.

The Western Cape’s top health official has sounded the alarm about rising rates of mental illness in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, citing a steady increase in the number of people with acute psychotic and behavioural disorders arriving at hospital emergency centres in recent months.

“The entire mental healthcare system was under pressure before Covid-19. What you are seeing now is the impact of three waves [of infection], decreasing access to mental health services, and the rebound effect,” said Western Cape head of health Keith Cloete.

SA’s first coronavirus case was detected in March 2020, and three successive waves of infection followed. Many routine health services were limited during the periods when lockdown rules were at their strictest and cases were rising, with knock-on effects that are only now being felt, Cloete said.

The majority of people presenting to 17 emergency centres between June and October with psychosis, mental and behavioural disorders were cases related to substance abuse.

People with acute psychotic or behavioural disorders are typically taken to emergency centres by the police, family or community members. They are assessed and may be observed in hospital for 72 hours, before either being discharged or formally admitted to hospital.

The number of patients with mental health conditions discharged

from acute hospitals, a measure used as a proxy for admissions, has also risen steadily and stood at a three-year high in August and September.

Discharge rates rose to a three-year high in the past two months, with 1,394 patients discharged in September, and 1,471 in August. In September the year before 1,202 patients were discharged and 1,208 in August.

Cloete noted that the latest National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile (Nids-Cram) surveys found mental illness had increased during the pandemic.

The Nids-Cram survey has been conducted five times, and found the proportion of people reporting depressive symptoms rose from 21% in round 1 to 28% in round 5. The last survey, conducted in April, found more than half (52%) of the respondents had experienced depressive symptoms at some point during the pandemic, and that 40% of

adults living in food insecure households showed signs of depressed mood compared to 26% among adults living with children in homes where food was not a worry.

The SA Depression and Anxiety Group has flagged rising rates of mental distress since Covid-19 struck, reporting a 48% increase in calls to its helpline in the nine months to September, compared to the year before. Call volumes rose from 179,090 in 2019, to 315,666 in 2020 and to 466,407 in the first nine months of 2021.

FRONT PAGE

en-za

2021-10-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://bdmobileapp.pressreader.com/article/281595243732376

Arena Holdings PTY