A Prospective Study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among COVID 19 survivors at a tertiary care hospital

ABSTRACT

Background: The Novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak is unprecedented and traumatic event for the many people of the world. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the commonly encountered mental health problem after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It is predicted that this outbreak have a more profound and widespread psychological impact. The current study is aimed at estimation of the prevalence of PTSD in patients with COVID-19 at two different points of time. Methodology: A prospective study was carried out from may 2020 to October 2020 at a COVID notified tertiary care centre. Participants were approached using Semi-structured proforma and ‘PTSD Symptom Scale Interview (PSS-I)’ at the time of discharge and 1 month post-discharge. Descriptive statistics and Chi- square test were used for the analysis. Results: A total of 440 participants took part in the study. 20.45% participants at the time of discharge from the hospital, and 18.33% at one month follow-up met the criteria for PTSD. Male participants and those who stayed in hospital for more than 14 days reported higher prevalence of PTSD. Conclusion: High prevalence of PTSD was observed in patients with COVID-19 at the time of discharge from the hospital. It is more among those who stayed in Intensive care unit and high dependency unit, and stayed for longer duration in hospital.