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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Apr 19, 2021; 11(4): 94-108
Published online Apr 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i4.94
Global health disparities in vulnerable populations of psychiatric patients during the COVID-19 pandemic
Ailyn Diaz, Ritika Baweja, Jessica K Bonatakis, Raman Baweja
Ailyn Diaz, Ritika Baweja, Jessica K Bonatakis, Raman Baweja, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, United States
Author contributions: Diaz A conceptualized this paper, draft the initial manuscript, reviewed and revised the manuscript; Baweja R and Bonatakis JK contributed in the initial manuscript, reviewed and revised the manuscript; Baweja R conceptualized this paper, contributed in the initial manuscript, critically reviewed and revised the manuscript; all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to accountable for all aspect of the work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report no conflicts of interest related to the subject of this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Raman Baweja, MD, MS, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Penn State University College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, H073, Hershey, PA 17033, United States. rbaweja@pennstatehealth.psu.edu
Received: February 17, 2021
Peer-review started: February 17, 2021
First decision: March 16, 2021
Revised: March 30, 2021
Accepted: April 5, 2021
Article in press: April 5, 2021
Published online: April 19, 2021
Processing time: 50 Days and 7.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many psychiatric patients encounter limited access to care due to major health disparities. In this minireview, we examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable psychiatric populations due to ethnic-racial disparities, disparities involving children with disabilities, the role of sex and gender trauma in the mental health in sexual and gender minorities, disparities among pregnant women, disparities among mature adults, and the impact in urban vs rural populations.