Perceived stress and coping strategies during the COVID19 lockdown in five countries

Several studies have shown how mental health could be affected during the COVID19 pandemic, which led us to wonder about the psychological impact that the initial period of lockdown could have. We conducted a multicentric study that sought to describe, compare, and analyze the association between perceived stress, coping strategies and sociodemographic characteristics in a snowballstyle convenience sample of 1169 participants from Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, and Spain who responded to an online survey. There were differences in perceived stress and coping strategies between countries and depending on sociodemographic characteristics. The variables positively associated with perceived stress were the coping strategies alcoholdrug use, focus on emotions and venting, being a woman, and living in Brazil, Italy, and Spain. The variables negatively associated with perceived stress were planning and active coping, positive reinterpretation, being over 45 years old, and being a worker. These results contribute to understanding the stress responses to lockdown and help identify vulnerability factors in order to design prevention and intervention programs. © 2023 Asoc. Espanola de Psicologia Clinica y Psicopatologia. All rights reserved.

Quantitative and qualitative features of acute phase-adverse events following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in a large sample of people with multiple sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION: Few data are available on adverse events (AE) associated to vaccines in persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). AIMS: to study the incidence of acute phase AE (AP-AE) related to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in pwMS compared to a control group, and to analyze the association between AP-AE and disease modifying treatments (DMT). METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study on 438 PwMS and 481 age- and sex-matched subjects not affected by dysimmune diseases that underwent two doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer/BioNtech). RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty five (51.4%) pwMS complained of ≥1 AP-AE after the first dose, 269 (61.4%) after the second dose. A logistic regression analysis revealed that only pwMS on Fingolimod and Ocrelizumab did not show a higher risk of developing AP-AE. The likelihood to present with ≥1 AP-AE, after correcting for age and sex, was significantly higher in pwMS than controls. CONCLUSIONS: This study reports qualitative and quantitative features of AP-AE associated with the first and second doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in a large sample of pwMS. The only risk factor identified for developing AP-AE is female gender. AntiCD-20 monoclonal antibodies and S1P inhibitors are associated with a lower risk of AP-AE occurrence.