COVID-19 and psychiatric inpatient admissions at a Saudi tertiary hospital, 2017-2024: an interrupted time-series study
- 1Department of Psychiatry, Prince Sultan Military Medical City , ,
- 2Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University College of Khurma, Taif University , ,
Abstract
Introduction: Psychiatric inpatient admissions decreased in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most studies used a year or less of pre-pandemic data and compared the two periods directly, which cannot separate a pandemic effect from the increase that predated it, and evidence from the Middle East is limited. This study examined changes in psychiatric admission volume across the COVID-19 pandemic, with diagnostic case-mix and length of stay (LOS) examined as secondary outcomes.
Methods: This interrupted time-series analysis used eight years of inpatient records from Prince Sultan Military Medical City, a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All 1551 adult psychiatric admissions between January 2017 and November 2024 were assigned to pre-COVID (January 2017 to February 2020), during-COVID (March 2020 to December 2021), and post-COVID (January 2022 to November 2024) periods. Monthly admission counts were modeled by segmented Poisson regression. Diagnostic case-mix was assessed by chi-square tests and length of stay by a linear mixed-effects model.
Results: Before the pandemic, admissions were increasing by 1.7% per month (IRR 1.017; 95% CI 1.009-1.024), a trend concentrated in the first recording year (2017). With the baseline restricted to 2018 onward, this trend was flat. At onset admissions decreased by 31.5% (IRR 0.685; 95% CI 0.564-0.831), a reduction that persisted across baseline specifications. Monthly volume then remained near the pre-pandemic mean of 16 to 17 through 2024. Diagnostic composition differed across periods. Admissions for substance use disorders increased from 9.0% to 14.3% in the post-COVID period (absolute difference 5.3 percentage points; 95% CI 1.6-9.0), and admissions for mood disorders decreased from 37.4% to 30.5%. Length of stay showed no significant change.
Conclusion: At this single center, admissions fell at onset and then remained near their pre-pandemic level through 2024. The diagnostic and sociodemographic differences were small and should be regarded as exploratory. Multicenter studies are needed to confirm these findings and to inform mental health service planning for future public health emergencies.
Related
- Association Between a Two-Cycle Plan-Do-Study-Act Quality Improvement Intervention and Biomedical Waste Segregation Compliance in a Large Indian Government Tertiary Teaching Hospital: A 51-Month Interrupted Time Series Study.
- Interpretable machine learning for identifying cost drivers of inpatient traditional Chinese medicine services in a tertiary hospital in China
- The cost of treating selected psychiatric conditions from the provider’s perspective in a public tertiary academic hospital in South Africa
- Editorial: Redefining acute psychiatric care: strategies for improved inpatient experiences, vol II
- Trends and Changing Clinical Profiles in Adolescent Mental Health Inpatient Admissions: A Time-Series and Comparative Study Over the Period 2011–2024
BibTeX
@article{alotaibi2026covid19,
title = {{COVID-19 and psychiatric inpatient admissions at a Saudi tertiary hospital, 2017-2024: an interrupted time-series study}},
author = {Mohammed T. Alotaibi and Fahad M. Alotaibi and Malek I. Almatroudi and Enas M. Aljohani and Fatimah A. Alqahtani and Abdulkarim M. Almudhi and Dyna K. Alhajri and Nahaa E. Alsubaie and Afnan A. AlMarshedi and Youssef F. Alshehri},
journal = {Frontiers in psychiatry},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1922988},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13662059},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - COVID-19 and psychiatric inpatient admissions at a Saudi tertiary hospital, 2017-2024: an interrupted time-series study
AU - Mohammed T. Alotaibi
AU - Fahad M. Alotaibi
AU - Malek I. Almatroudi
AU - Enas M. Aljohani
AU - Fatimah A. Alqahtani
AU - Abdulkarim M. Almudhi
AU - Dyna K. Alhajri
AU - Nahaa E. Alsubaie
AU - Afnan A. AlMarshedi
AU - Youssef F. Alshehri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
JO - Frontiers in psychiatry
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1922988
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13662059
AB - Introduction: Psychiatric inpatient admissions decreased in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most studies used a year or less of pre-pandemic data and compared the two periods directly, which cannot separate a pandemic effect from the increase that predated it, and evidence from the Middle East is limited. This study examined changes in psychiatric admission volume across the COVID-19 pandemic, with diagnostic case-mix and length of stay (LOS) examined as secondary outcomes. Methods: This interrupted time-series analysis used eight years of inpatient records from Prince Sultan Military Medical City, a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All 1551 adult psychiatric admissions between January 2017 and November 2024 were assigned to pre-COVID (January 2017 to February 2020), during-COVID (March 2020 to December 2021), and post-COVID (January 2022 to November 2024) periods. Monthly admission counts were modeled by segmented Poisson regression. Diagnostic case-mix was assessed by chi-square tests and length of stay by a linear mixed-effects model. Results: Before the pandemic, admissions were increasing by 1.7% per month (IRR 1.017; 95% CI 1.009-1.024), a trend concentrated in the first recording year (2017). With the baseline restricted to 2018 onward, this trend was flat. At onset admissions decreased by 31.5% (IRR 0.685; 95% CI 0.564-0.831), a reduction that persisted across baseline specifications. Monthly volume then remained near the pre-pandemic mean of 16 to 17 through 2024. Diagnostic composition differed across periods. Admissions for substance use disorders increased from 9.0% to 14.3% in the post-COVID period (absolute difference 5.3 percentage points; 95% CI 1.6-9.0), and admissions for mood disorders decreased from 37.4% to 30.5%. Length of stay showed no significant change. Conclusion: At this single center, admissions fell at onset and then remained near their pre-pandemic level through 2024. The diagnostic and sociodemographic differences were small and should be regarded as exploratory. Multicenter studies are needed to confirm these findings and to inform mental health service planning for future public health emergencies.
SN - 1664-0640
ER -