Key Points

Emergency department visits in the OSCOUR® network

• Monitoring of emergency department visits for psychological reasons (children and adults) showed no significant increase coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Among those aged 18 and older, the number of visits for psychological disorders (all types combined) increased gradually between 2018 and 2020 (with 706 visits in 2018, 735 in 2019, and 774 in 2020). For the first 8 months of 2021, 447 visits were recorded, averaging 56 visits per week compared to an average of 64 for the entire year of 2020.

• Among children (under 18), the number of visits for psychological disorders (all types combined) increased between 2018 and 2019 (90 visits in 2018 vs. 116 in 2019) and stabilized in 2020 at 113 visits. For the first 8 months of 2021, 54 visits were recorded, averaging 7 visits per week compared to an average of 9 visits per week for the entire year of 2020.

• Visits for anxiety disorders, across all age groups, account for more than 200 visits annually; they were slightly higher in 2020 (240 visits) than in 2019 (210 visits) and 2018 (221 visits).

For more information

• Mental Health: View the epidemiological data for the Indian Ocean region

• Mental health: view epidemiological data for all regions

• Mental health: view national epidemiological updates

• Visit our page on the CoviPrev survey, which tracks changes in behavior and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Visit our "Mental Health and Covid-19" page

• View our thematic dossier on Mental Health