Introduction:

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, professionals dedicated to the mental health care of the pediatric population have seen an increase in the number of consultations to these patients.

Objective:

Examine the clinical and epidemiological profile of children with psychiatric manifestations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

Observational, descriptive and cross sectional study of 87 children attended in the Mental Health Service of "José Martí" Provincial Pediatric Teaching Hospital of Sancti Spíritus from March to May, 2020. All patients were characterized by age, sex, mental health history and family situation. Psychopathological manifestations and psychiatric disorders were also analyzed.

Results:

The largest number of patients treated was the 11 to 15-year-old group with predominance of the female sex. There was a higher percentage of children with a history of previous good mental health than those who were tracked by psychiatric or psychological disorders. 75.86 % of the children studied came from households with inadequate family situations. Anxiety, adaptive, and of decompensated personality´s disorders were present in much of the sample and many required drug treatment.

Conclusions:

Within the studied group adolescents were the most affected. The previous state of good mental health is not a determinant for the presence or not of pathological manifestations, including anxiety, insomnia and sleep disturbances, among the most common and in correspondence with the main psychiatric disorders given by states of anxiety, adaptation and decompensated personality; hence most required psychopharmacological treatment.

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