Depression, Perceived Stress and Socio-demographic Correlates among General Population during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Survey from Southern India

Introduction: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its socio-economic consequences have had a significant impact on mental health. A quantifiable data regarding increase of mental health problems as a result of the pandemic is required to take necessary steps in tackling the issue. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of depression, perceived stress and its socio-demographic correlates among general population of South India during COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey conducted from 25th August 2021 to 25th October 2021 among the general population of South India during COVID-19. A total of 600 subjects were enrolled into the study. Study subjects included people of either sex between 20-50 years of age who were able to read and understand English and with access to internet. Subjects responded to a questionnaire packet of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS-10) and a proforma for socio-demographic data. Data was analyzed using GNU PSPP version 1. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and independent t test were used to assess associations. A value of p-value<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine correlation. Results: Of the 600 subjects who were enrolled into the study, 26.7%, 15.7%, 9.3% and 7.2% had mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe depression respectively. About 62.7% had moderate and 17.5% had high perceived stress. Whereas, 28.7% had death wishes or thoughts to hurt themselves. Females (PHQ-9: p-value=0.006;PSS-10:p-value<0.001), 20-29 age group (PHQ-9: p-value <0.001;PSS-10: p-value <0.001), students (PHQ-9: p-value <0.001;PSS-10: p-value <0.001), those who were unmarried (PHQ-9: p-value <0.001;PSS-10: p-value< 0.001), living with parents (PHQ-9: p-value <0.001;PSS-10: p-value <0.001), those who had a loss of income (PHQ-9: p-value <0.001;PSS-10: p-value=0.018) or job (PHQ-9: p-value<0.001;PSS-10: p-value<0.001) in the past 1 year, those with a history of psychiatry disorder (PHQ-9: p-value<0.001;PSS-10: p-value<0.001) had a significantly higher score in both depression and perceived stress. Correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between depression and perceived stress scores (r=0.691). Conclusion: This study showed a high prevalence of depression and perceived stress and shows the need for strengthening mental health services to address the challenge.

Watchful System to keep track of Hazardous waste during COVID'19 epidemic

Biomedical waste is broadly classified as Hazardous and non-hazardous healthcare waste. Hazardous waste includes Pathological waste, Pharmaceutical waste, infectious waste and chemical waste etc. Non-hazardous waste is the general health care waste that adds waste while packaging, administrative and from housekeeping etc., from a research laboratory and any pharmaceuticals. Around 25% of the healthcare wastes are infectious, which produces serious health care issues and a hazardous consequence on the environment if not handled properly. This paper aims at providing a monitoring and alerting system in disposing of waste that releases harmful gases into the environment. The proposed method monitors the gas leakage from the collected waste. If the waste concentration exceeds the optimum limit, it alerts the system to dispose of it immediately. © 2022 IEEE.