ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement L-Z 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 45
WONCA 2023 Supplement 2: WONCA 2023 abstracts (L–Z)
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The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the prevalence of
paediatric depression
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Dr Glorymar López Garayúa1,2, Mara Martínez Santori2, Norma Arciniegas Medina1,2
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Mayagüez Medical Center, 2Ponce Health Sciences University
Introduction
As one of the most vaccinated countries in America, Puerto Rico’s success in containing the
pandemic has come after many months of strict public policy implementation. Government officials
declared a state of emergency on the island on 15 March 2020. These measures included closing
all schools across the island, forcing educational administrators to improvise online school efforts to
complete the academic year.
This significant increase in lockdown-related anxiety and depressive symptoms is an unfortunate
observation across several countries in the world. A 50% increase in suicide attempts has been
reported among adolescent girls in the US alone compared to statistics from 2019.
Our purpose is to compare the prevalence of depression in Puerto Rican paediatric patients, from
a paediatric practice located in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, between 9 and 21 years old prior to the
pandemic lockdown (2018–19) and compare results to those during the lockdown(2020–21). In
addition, we will compare body mass indices with Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores to
determine if there is an association with higher BMIs and a higher prevalence in depression.
Methods
Patients were systematically selected filtering for age. The PHQ-9 was used for children between the
ages of 9 and 21 years within the period of January 2018 – December 2021.
Results
In all, 196 patients were reviewed via electronic medical record during 2018–19 until 2021. There is
an increased tendency in PHQ-9 scores was found in the 2020 group after lockdown although these
results were not statistically significant.
This tendency between the groups was not associated with BMI as both groups had similar BMIs. We
did find a statistically significant association between higher PHQ-9 levels and increased BMI with a P
value 0.005 and 96% confidence interval of 0.06–0.33. Psychology referral was increased in 2020 with
40% referral compared to 28.3% in 2018–19.
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