Several studies revealed that mental disorders' prevalence increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in young and female individuals. Such studies represent individuals' subjective perceptions and not the number of mental health cases treated in primary care. Thus, this study aimed to describe the changes in depression, anxiety, and stress disorder diagnoses in General Practitioner (GP) practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than three million patients of 757 German GP practices were included in this cross-sectional analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to assess changes in the number of incident depression, anxiety disorders, and reaction to severe stress and adjustment disorders documented by GPs in 2020 compared to the average of the years 2017–2019. There was a tremendous decrease in mental health diagnoses during the first lockdown that was only slightly compensated later. Overall populations and the entire year 2020, there was no change in documented depression (0%) and stress disorders (1%), but anxiety disorders were more often documented (+19%), especially for the elderly population (>80 years; +24%). This population group also received more frequently new depression (+12%) and stress disorder diagnoses (23%). The younger population was diagnosed more frequently at the end of 2020, nine months after the first lockdown. Anxiety disorders but not depression and stress diagnoses were elevated, which is not in line with previously published studies. We speculate that the elderly population was affected most by the pandemic immediately after the first lockdown was announced. The younger population has probably become more and more affected the longer the pandemic lasts.

多项研究表明，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，精神障碍的患病率有所增加，尤其是在年轻人和女性中。此类研究代表了个人的主观看法，而不是初级保健中治疗的心理健康病例的数量。因此，本研究旨在描述 COVID-19 大流行期间全科医生 (GP) 实践中抑郁、焦虑和压力障碍诊断的变化。该横断面分析包括来自 757 家德国全科医生诊所的超过 300 万患者。与 2017-2019 年的平均值相比，描述性统计数据用于评估 2020 年全科医生记录的抑郁症、焦虑症以及对严重压力和适应障碍的反应数量的变化。在第一次封锁期间，心理健康诊断大幅减少，后来仅得到了轻微补偿。总体人口和 2020 年全年，记录在案的抑郁症 (0%) 和压力障碍 (1%) 没有变化，但更多地记录到焦虑症 (+19%)，尤其是老年人群（>80 岁； +24%）。这个人群也更频繁地接受新的抑郁症 (+12%) 和压力障碍诊断 (23%)。到 2020 年底，也就是第一次封锁后的九个月，年轻人被诊断出的频率更高。焦虑症但不是抑郁症和压力诊断升高，这与之前发表的研究不一致。我们推测，在宣布第一次封锁后，老年人口立即受到大流行的影响最大。