ABSTRACT
Since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, 2020, the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has profoundly impacted public health and the economy worldwide. But there are not the only ones to be hit. The COVID-19 pandemic has also substantially altered mental health, with anxiety symptoms being one of the most frequently reported problems. Especially, the number of people reporting anxiety symptoms increased significantly during the first lockdown-phase compared to similar data collected before the pandemic. Yet, most of these studies relied on a unitary approach to anxiety, wherein its different constitutive features (i.e., symptoms) were tallied into one sum-score, thus ignoring any possibility of interactions between them. Therefore, in this study, we seek to map the associations between the core features of anxiety during the first weeks of the first Belgian COVID-19 lockdown-phase (n = 2,829). To do so, we implemented, in a preregistered fashion, two distinct computational network approaches: a Gaussian graphical model (GGM) and a directed acyclic graph (DAG). Despite their varying assumptions, constraints, and computational methods to determine nodes (i.e., the variables) and edges (i.e., the relations between them), both GGM and DAG pointed to excessive worrying as a node playing an especially influential role in the network system of the anxiety features. Altogether, our findings offer novel data-driven clues for the ongoing field's larger quest to elucidate, and eventually alleviate, the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subject(s)
Anxiety Disorders , COVID-19ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brings several features that increase the sense of fear, not to mention confusion, quarantine, financial losses, etc., which may lead to adverse psychosocial outcomes. The influence of such stressors takes place within a broader sociocultural context that needs to be considered.Objective: To examine how the psychological response to the pandemic varies across countries and identify which risk/protective factors contribute to this response.Methods : An online survey was conducted from May 29-June 12, 2020, among a multinational sample of 8,806 adults from eight countries/regions (Canada, United States, England, Switzerland, Belgium, Hong Kong, Philippines, New Zealand). Probable generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depression episode (MDE) were assessed. The independent role of a wide range of potential factors was examined using multilevel logistic regression.Findings: Probable GAD and MDE were indicated by 21.0% and 25.5% of the respondents, respectively, with an important variation according to countries/regions (GAD: 12.2%-31.0%; MDE: 16.7%-32.9%). When considered together, 30.2% of the participants indicated probable GAD or MDE. Several factors were positively associated with a probable GAD or MDE, including (in descending order of importance) weak sense of coherence (SOC), lower age, false beliefs, isolation, threat perceived for oneself/family, mistrust in authorities, stigma, threat perceived for country/world, financial losses, being a female, and having high level of information about COVID-19. Having a weak SOC yielded the highest adjusted odds ratio for probable GAD or MDE (3.23; 95% CI: 2.76-3.78).Interpretation: This pandemic is having an impact on psychological health. In some places and under certain circumstances, however, people seem to be better protected psychologically. This is a unique opportunity to evaluate the psychosocial impacts across various sociocultural backgrounds, providing important lessons that could inform all phases of disaster risk management.Funding: This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no competing interest.Ethics Approval Statement: This study takes place within a broader research project funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. It was reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Board of the CIUSSS de l'Estrie – CHUS (HEC ref: 2020-3674).