Decline In New Starts Of Psychotropic Medications During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Ian Nason; Dorit T Stein; Richard G Frank; Murray B Stein

doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00028

Decline In New Starts Of Psychotropic Medications During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Health Aff (Millwood). 2021 Jun;40(6):904-909. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00028.

Authors

Ian Nason¹, Dorit T Stein², Richard G Frank³, Murray B Stein⁴

Affiliations

¹ Ian Nason ([email protected]) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts.
² Dorit T. Stein is an incoming PhD student in the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health,in Boston, Massachusetts.
³ Richard G. Frank is the Margaret T. Morris Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School.
⁴ Murray B. Stein is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of California San Diego, in La Jolla, California.

PMID: 34097524
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00028

Abstract

COVID-19 interrupted delivery of mental health care in the US. During the initial course of the COVID-19 pandemic new starts of antidepressants declined by 7.5 percent, anxiolytics by 5.6 percent, and antipsychotics by 2.6 percent compared with expected levels. Our findings suggest that there is large unmet need for mental health treatment in the US due to COVID-19.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antipsychotic Agents* / therapeutic use
COVID-19*
Humans
Mental Disorders* / drug therapy
Mental Disorders* / epidemiology
Pandemics
Psychotropic Drugs / therapeutic use
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Antipsychotic Agents
Psychotropic Drugs