These increases point to significant mental health effects of COVID-19-related mitigation measures, particularly among women, researchers noted in a cohort study published in JAMA Network Open. “Most health care resources were focused on non-psychiatric aspects of COVID-19,” said Sadaf Arefi Milani, PhD, MPH, of the department of internal medicine-geriatrics and palliative medicine at UTMB. “We were interested in seeing if the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated mitigation measures exacerbated the already higher rates of mental health conditions and psychiatric prescriptions among women.”

For full publication click here: Trends in the use of benzodiazepines, Z-hypnotics, and serotonergic drugs among US women and men before and during the COVID-19 pandemic