Patterns of Psychiatric Admissions across two Disasters: L’Aquila Earthquake and COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

Abstract Background This study examined psychiatric hospitalisation patterns in San Salvatore Hospital in L'Aquila during two major crises: the 2009 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The investigation spans two four-year periods, from 2008 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2022, with a focus on the trimester around the earthquake and the first wave/lockdown of the pandemic. Methods We analysed weekly psychiatric unit admissions of adults diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol/substance use disorder. Four-year periods around the Earthquake and COVID-19 Lockdown were divided into sixteen trimesters, and Generalised linear models were used to analyse the relationship between weekly hospitalisation frequency and trimesters by diagnosis using a Poisson distribution. Results Weekly hospitalisations in the earthquake trimester were lower than the previous one for all diagnoses. This reduction persisted for 21, 18, and 33 months after the earthquake for schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and alcohol/substance use disorders, respectively. On the other hand, patterns of weekly admissions around the COVID-19 lockdown remained substantially stable in the short term. However, a consistent long-term hospitalisation increase for all diagnoses characterised the first half of 2022 (the cessation of anti-COVID-19 measures). Conclusions The present study's findings indicated that exposure to disasters can have both short- and long-term effects on psychiatric ward admission, holding significant implications for current and future disaster management strategies.