Effects of lockdown on emergency room admissions for psychiatric evaluation: an observational study from the AUSL Romagna, Italy.

Lockdown changed dramatically health priorities in the local population, including people with mental health. We speculate that our observations do not only refer to the confinement due to the lockdown regime but also to fear of contagion and adoption of different coping strategies, especially in women.Key-pointsDuring lockdown 15% reduction of psychiatric visits and >17% reduction in the number of psychiatric patients referring to the ER was observed.in the first four weeks of the lockdown almost 25% reduction of both visits and patients was observedFemale gender and being a local resident were factors associated with the decrease.