Psychological Distress among Adults in Home Confinement in the Midst of COVID-19 Outbreak

 

 Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate psychological distress caused by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among the adult population residing in Pakistan.

Materials and Methods This cross-sectional survey-based study comprised 1,000 adults residing in Pakistan. A questionnaire was formulated and circulated among adult population of Pakistan, the depression and anxiety symptoms using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scales were assessed.

Statistical Analysis Independent t-test, cross tabulation, and regression analysis were used to identify variables having impact on PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results Among 1,000 participants, 573 were males and 427 were females who completed the survey. Majority were restricted to home for more than 40 days. Considerable number of participants reported depressive (540, 54%) and anxiety (480, 48%) symptoms. Gender, age, earnings, and occupation have significant relation with psychological distress, although similar was not found with education levels.

Conclusion Psychological distress, a concerning yet addressable issue was found among adults arising amid COVID-19 outbreak. Currently, physical health effects of COVID-19 are being looked, while mental health effects being under-addressed. This issue should be addressed to avoid any psychological impact in future.

Publication History

Article published online:
26 November 2020

© 2020. European Journal of Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, Second Floor, Sector -2, NOIDA -201301, India

• References

• 1 Li Q, Guan X, Wu P. et al. Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia. N Engl J Med 2020; 382 (13) 1199-1207
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 2 WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19, March 11, 2020. World Health Organization website. Updated March 11, 2020. Available at: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19—11-march-2020. Accessed May 21, 2020
• 3 Zhou P, Yang X-L, Wang X-G. et al. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature 2020; 579 (7798) 270-273
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 4 de Wit E, van Doremalen N, Falzarano D, Munster VJ. SARS and MERS: recent insights into emerging coronaviruses. Nat Rev Microbiol 2016; 14 (08) 523-534
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 5 Velavan TP, Meyer CG. The COVID-19 epidemic. Trop Med Int Health 2020; 25 (03) 278-280
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 6 Ijaz MK, Brunner AH, Sattar SA, Nair RC, Johnson-Lussenburg CM. Survival characteristics of airborne human coronavirus 229E. J Gen Virol 1985; 66 (Pt 12) 2743-2748
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 7 Linton NM, Kobayashi T, Yang Y. et al. Incubation period and other epidemiological characteristics of 2019 novel coronavirus infections with right truncation: a statistical analysis of publicly available case data. J Clin Med 2020; 9 (02) 538
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 8 Mattiuzzi C, Lippi G. Which lessons shall we learn from the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak?. Ann Transl Med 2020; 8 (03) 48
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 9 Wang C, Horby PW, Hayden FG, Gao GF. A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet 2020; 395 (10223) 470-473
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 10 Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X. et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet 2020; 395 (10223) 507-513 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30211-7.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 11 Cai J, Sun W, Huang J, Gamber M, Wu J, He G. Indirect virus transmission in cluster of COVID-19 cases, Wenzhou, China, 2020. Emerg Infect Dis 2020; 26 (06) 1343-1345
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 12 Bai Y, Yao L, Wei T. et al. Presumed asymptomatic carrier transmission of COVID-19. JAMA 2020; 323 (14) 1406
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 13 Wang T, Du Z, Zhu F. et al. Comorbidities and multi-organ injuries in the treatment of COVID-19. Lancet 2020; 395 (10228) e52
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 14 Xie J, Tong Z, Guan X, Du B, Qiu H. Clinical characteristics of patients who died of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. JAMA Netw Open 2020; 3 (04) e205619
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 15 Ahmed N, Maqsood A, Abduljabbar T, Vohra F. Tobacco smoking a potential risk factor in transmission of COVID-19 infection. Pak J Med Sci 2020; 36 (COVID19-S4) S104-S107
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 16 Cowling BJ, Aiello AE. Public health measures to slow community spread of coronavirus disease 2019. J Infect Dis 2020; 221 (11) 1749-1751
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 17 Xie X, Xue Q, Zhou Y, et al. Mental health status among children in home confinement during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak in Hubei Province, China. JAMA Pediatr 2020;174(9):898-900 doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1619
• 18 A. Maqsood, Ruqaya. S. Sarfaraz, AB Irfan, A. Faisal HF. Healthcare workers knowledge, practices and stress level amid COVID-19 pandemic. Pakistan Armed Forces Med J 2020; 70 (01) 244-250
  Google Scholar
• 19 Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med 2001; 16 (09) 606-613
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 20 Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Löwe B. A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Arch Intern Med 2006; 166 (10) 1092-1097
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 21 Özdin S, Bayrak Özdin Ş. Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: the importance of gender. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2020; 66 (05) 504-511
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 22 Meng H, Xu Y, Dai J, Zhang Y, Liu B, Yang H. Analyze the psychological impact of COVID-19 among the elderly population in China and make corresponding suggestions. Psychiatry Res 2020; 289: 112983
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 23 Simon AK, Bhumika TV, Nair NS. Does atraumatic restorative treatment reduce dental anxiety in children? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Dent 2015; 9 (02) 304-309
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 24 Ahmed MA, Jouhar R, Ahmed N. et al. Fear and practice modifications among dentists to combat novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020; 17 (08) 2821
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 25 De Sousa A, Mohandas E, Javed A. Psychological interventions during COVID-19: challenges for low and middle income countries. Asian J Psychiatr 2020; 51: 102128
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 26 ‘Ban Imposed on face mask hoarding, profiteering’. The News website. Updated March 10, 2020. Available at: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/626676-ban-imposed-on-face-mask-hoarding-profiteering. Accessed May 21, 2020
• 27 Qureshi Z. COVID-19: 3-year jail term for hoarders of consumer items in Pakistan. Gulf News website. Updated April 18, 2020. Available at: https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/covid-19-3-year-jail-term-for-hoarders-of-consumer-items-in-pakistan-1.71047972. Accessed May 21, 2020
• 28 Garfin DR, Silver RC, Holman EA. The novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) outbreak: Amplification of public health consequences by media exposure. Health Psychol 2020; 39 (05) 355-357
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 29 Tasnim S, Hossain MM, Mazumder H. Impact of rumors or misinformation on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in social media. J Prev Med Public Health 2020; 53 (03) 171-174
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 30 Barro R, Ursúa J, Weng J. The coronavirus and the great influenza pandemic: Lessons from the “Spanish Flu” for the coronavirus’s potential effects on mortality and economic activity. NBER Working Papers 26866, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Internet]. Cambridge, MA; 2020 Mar. Available at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w26866.pdf.
• 31 Li W, Yang Y, Liu Z-H. et al. Progression of mental health services during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Int J Biol Sci 2020; 16 (10) 1732-1738
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 32 Asmundson GJ, Taylor S. Coronaphobia: fear and the 2019-nCoV outbreak. J Anxiety Disord 2020; 70: 102196
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 33 Carvalho PMM, Moreira MM, de Oliveira MNA, Landim JMM, Neto MLR. The psychiatric impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Psychiatry Res 2020; 286: 112902
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 34 Said OB, Razumova S, Velichko E, Tikhonova S, Barakat H. Evaluation of the changes of salivary pH among dental students depending on their anxiety level. Eur J Dent 2020; 14 (04) 605-612
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 35 Xiang Y-T, Yang Y, Li W. et al. Timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed. Lancet Psychiatry 2020; 7 (03) 228-229
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 36 Maunder R, Hunter J, Vincent L. et al. The immediate psychological and occupational impact of the 2003 SARS outbreak in a teaching hospital. Can Med Assoc J 2003; 168 (10) 1245-1251
  Google Scholar