Trends in emergency department visits for mental health disorder diagnoses before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective cohort study 2018-2021.

BACKGROUND: As the pandemic started, Saudi Arabia applied extreme measures in responses to the pandemic crises, which have adversely affected individuals' mental health. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe trends in mental health disorder ED visit before and after the pandemic in two medical centers in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study using data from electronic health records in the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs' (MNG-HA) in Saudi Arabia. Multiple logistic regression model was used to examine the age and sex differences in mental health disorder ED visits before and during the COVID19 pandemic. RESULTS: A total of 1117 ED psychiatric visits, a sharp increase in the number of psychiatric ED visits during the pandemic with an average increase of 25.66% was observed. During the pandemic, psychiatric ED visits were significantly higher in females (adjusted AOR 1.41, 95% CI 1.08, 1.83) than males. During the COVID19 pandemic, generalized anxiety disorder was the most common psychiatric ED disorder with reported increase of visits by 53.34% (p-value 0.005). CONCLUSION: ED psychiatric visits have consistently increased before and during the COVID19 pandemic. Interventions for mental health related disorders are urgently needed for preventing mental health problems among females.

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Prognosis and Survival.

Introduction Pancreatic adenocarcinoma and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are inter-related. The outcomes of this association were the topic of interest of a lot of prior research in this field. The primary objective of this research is the identification of the survival rate and mortality difference between patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and T2DM and those without. Methods A retrospective observational study included 83 patients who were diagnosed and managed between 2005 and 2015 at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah. Patients with T2DM who were older than 18 years old and were diagnosed later with pancreatic adenocarcinoma were included. Results Out of 83 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, 86.75% (n=72) had T2DM at the time of diagnosis. The median age at diagnosis was significantly higher than in patients without T2DM (p=0.003). The overall survival was not affected by T2DM (p=0.289). However, hypertension had a significant impact on survival rate regardless of the presence of T2DM (OR, 3.47 (95% CI: 1.09-10.98)). Conclusion Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and T2DM were mostly women and aged around 60. T2DM did not have a significant effect on tumor profile. T2DM did not significantly affect survival, although other comorbidities, such as hypertension, did.