ABSTRACT
Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in Iran in February 2020 and then quickly spread to many cities. Different factors contribute to the numerous psychological problems of this pandemic in patients, healthcare workers and the community. This study investigated the prevalence of perceived stress, anxiety and depression in COVID-19 patients hospitalized between March and April 2020 and revealed associations of these factors with social support received from family. Method : In this cross-sectional study, patients with COVID-19 admitted between 21st of March and 22nd of April 2020 were evaluated by three questionnaires: Anxiety and depression were evaluated using the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), stress levels were evaluated using the four-item perceived stress scale (PSS-4) and family support was evaluated using the perceived social support scale-family (PSS-Fa). In addition to obtaining prevalence of the noted psychological disorders and their relationship with demographic details, relationship of stress, anxiety and depression with family support was also investigated using the Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: Participants comprised 100 COVID-19 patients (38 females and 62 males). Findings suggested high levels of perceived stress in 26% of the participants, anxiety symptoms existed in 29% and borderline conditions existed in 17%. Moreover, depressive and its borderline symptoms were respectively observed in 17% and 23%. Family support was found to negatively and significantly correlated with anxiety (Pearson correlation = -0.249, P < 0.05) and depression. (Pearson correlation = -0.221, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of anxiety and depression in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, it is recommended to further focus on non-clinical interventions, such as providing psychological first aids, boosting psychological resilience, and enabling greater family support, in efforts to prevent transformation of these psychological symptoms into long-term psychological disorders.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is a little evidence about the infectiousness of recovered COVID-19 patients. Considering that the circumstance of the isolation of the COVID-19 patients after-discharge is not always optimal, it is not very unlikely that viral transmission still occurs after hospital discharge. This study aims to investigate the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 in close contacts of recovered patients after discharge from hospital. METHODS: Four hundred fifty discharged COVID-19 patients discharged from the largest public treatment center in Tehran, capital city of Iran, were followed up. Demographic and clinical data of participants were collected from medical records. Follow-up data were acquired via telephone call interviews with patients or their main caregivers at home. RESULTS: The study's response rate was 93.77% (422 participated in the study). 60.90% patients were male and 39.10% were female (sex ratio = 1.55 male). The most prevalent comorbidities in these patients were hypertension (29.68%) and diabetes (24.80%). The mean of home isolation after discharge was 25.85. Forty-one (9.71%) patients had at least one new case in their close contacts, up to 3 weeks after they were discharged. There was a significant association between having at least a comorbidity with the odds of getting infected in close contacts [OR (CI) 2.22 (1.05-4.68)]. Density of inhabitant per room in a house' and the quality of isolation had significant associations with observing new cases in the patients' close contacts [high to moderate; OR (CI) 2.44 (1.06-5.61], [bad to good; OR (CI) 2.31 (1.17-4.59)], respectively. CONCLUSION: After hospital discharge, COVID-19 transmission can still occur, when a large number of people lives together in a single house. Another explanation can be that the less precaution measures are taken by recovered patients' cohabitants. Such conditions are also likely to happen when the recovered patient has other chronic diseases and requires additional care.