ABSTRACT
Objectives: Since the COVID-19 first emerged in Wuhan China at the end of 2019, it has spread to more than 200 countries and territories around the world. China was the first country to report COVID-19 cases and to impose strict lockdown, quarantine and outdoor restrictions. This research aims to investigate and describe the health status of Chinese people during this pandemic. Methods: An online questionnaire survey was distributed via the WeChat platform to Chinese mainland citizens living in Hubei (the lockdown province) and outside Hubei between February and March 2020, and to Chinese citizens living abroad between mid-March and April 2020. EQ-5D-5L was used to describe individuals’ health status by constructing a five-dimension health profile with a visual analog scale (EQ-VAS) score. Respondents’ sociodemographic information was also collected. Results: A total number of 993 respondents were recruited in this study. Respondents of the current survey reported worse health status compared with EQ-5D data in previous Chinese National Health Services Surveys. Respondents were more likely to report mental health problems than physical health problems. Among respondents living in their home country, people living in Hubei province reported worse health status than respondents living outside Hubei, in terms of the likelihood of having any problems in all EQ-5D dimensions and mean VAS scores. Health status of overseas respondents was reported to be even worse than that of Hubei respondents. Conclusions: EQ-5D-5L was found to be useful to describe health status in the COVID-19 pandemic. It was clear that the pandemic as well as strict lockdown policies affected Chinese people’s health both physically and mentally. Chinese people residing abroad were found to be in a worse situation than Chinese people residing home. This may be because overseas Chinese were not only afraid of COVID-19, but also felt isolated and sometimes being discriminated against in foreign counties.