Abstract
tudies on mental health disorders in Chile have shown a significant increase in this issue in recent years. However, there is limited information regarding the number of cases treated in high-complexity and emergency care facilities, such as tertiary care centers. This study aimed to analyze mental health disorder consultations in public healthcare facilities in Chile over the past three years. For this purpose, we used the public database from the Department of Statistics of the Ministry of Health, which records nationwide healthcare consultations. During the analysis period, a total of 235,705 consultations were reported in 2021, 279,699 in 2022, and 307,407 in 2023 for mental health disorders in tertiary care facilities. Trend analysis was conducted using negative binomial models, considering the monthly evolution of consultations in five diagnostic categories: suicidal ideation, mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use, mood and affective disorders, neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders, and other mental disorders. A significant monthly increase was observed in most diagnostic categories, with the most pronounced growth in cases of suicidal ideation and affective disorders, showing monthly increases of 2%. In contrast, although substance use disorders exhibited a slight upward monthly trend, annual data showed a decrease, suggesting a possible stabilization in this category. These findings quantify the incidence of mental health consultations in tertiary care and highlight the need to strengthen public mental health policies with scientific evidence to optimize resource allocation within the Chilean healthcare system.
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