Impact of the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake on the Profiles of Patients Admitted to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic: A University Hospital Experience from the Earthquake Epicenter.

Background: This study aims to investigate the effect of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake on admissions to the child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic admissions in a university hospital in the epicenter of the earthquake in Turkey and the relationship between psychiatric diagnoses and earthquake-related symptoms.

Method: The data set includes children and adolescents aged 0 to 18 who were admitted to the child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic within one month before one year of the earthquake (February 6 to March 5, 2022; Before Earthquake (BE)), the first month after the earthquake (February 6 to March 5, 2023; After Earthquake 1 (AE1)), and one month after one of the earthquake (February 6 to March 5, 2024; After Earthquake 2 (AE2)). The sociodemographic characteristics, the psychiatric diagnoses, and the relationship of the diagnoses to the earthquake of the child and adolescent were recorded and analyzed from the file.

Results: The data demonstrate a statistically significant increase over time in the proportion of children and adolescents with at least one psychiatric diagnosis, from 349 (87.5%) in BE to 48 (92.3%) in AE1 and 489 (93.6%) in AE2 (p = 0.026). The proportion of children and adolescents with two or more psychiatric diagnoses also increased significantly, from 116 (29.1%) in BE to 208 (40.5%) in AE2 (p < 0.001). In AE2, the prevalence of trauma- and stressor-related disorders (p < 0.001), anxiety disorders (p < 0.001), sleep-wake disorders (p < 0.001), and dissociative disorders (p = 0.009) significantly increased compared to BE. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis revealed statistically significant associations between earthquake-related symptoms and specific disorders, including trauma- and stressor-related disorders, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, sleep-wake disorders, dissociative disorders, and feeding and eating disorders (all p < 0.05). Notably, earthquake-related diagnoses were more prevalent among females (78, 61.4%) compared to males (49, 38.6%), a statistically significant difference (p = 0.001).

Conclusion: The findings of this study provide significant insights into the psychological consequences of earthquakes on children and adolescents, revealing both immediate and long-term changes in psychiatric presentations. It is crucial to recognize that, in the aftermath of an earthquake, the relationship may persist beyond the trauma- and stressor-related disorders, thereby extending to encompass other psychiatric presentations.