The impact of COVID-19 on subthreshold depressive symptoms: a longitudinal study.
Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci
; 30: e20, 2021 Feb 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1152777
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents an unprecedented threat to mental health. Herein, we assessed the impact of COVID-19 on subthreshold depressive symptoms and identified potential mitigating factors.METHODS:
Participants were from Depression Cohort in China (ChiCTR registry number 1900022145). Adults (n = 1722) with subthreshold depressive symptoms were enrolled between March and October 2019 in a 6-month, community-based interventional study that aimed to prevent clinical depression using psychoeducation. A total of 1506 participants completed the study in Shenzhen, China 726 participants, who completed the study between March 2019 and January 2020 (i.e. before COVID-19), comprised the 'wave 1' group; 780 participants, who were enrolled before COVID-19 and completed the 6-month endpoint assessment during COVID-19, comprised 'wave 2'. Symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia were assessed at baseline and endpoint (i.e. 6-month follow-up) using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), respectively. Measures of resilience and regular exercise were assessed at baseline. We compared the mental health outcomes between wave 1 and wave 2 groups. We additionally investigated how mental health outcomes changed across disparate stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, i.e. peak (7-13 February), post-peak (14-27 February), remission plateau (28 February-present).RESULTS:
COVID-19 increased the risk for three mentaloutcomes:
(1) depression (odds ratio [OR] = 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.62); (2) anxiety (OR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.16-1.88) and (3) insomnia (OR = 1.37, 95% CI 1.07-1.77). The highest proportion of probable depression and anxiety was observed post-peak, with 52.9% and 41.4%, respectively. Greater baseline resilience scores had a protective effect on the three main outcomes (depression OR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.19-0.37; anxiety OR = 1.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33 and insomnia OR = 0.18, 95% CI 0.11-0.28). Furthermore, regular physical activity mitigated the risk for depression (OR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.79-0.99).CONCLUSIONS:
The COVID-19 pandemic exerted a highly significant and negative impact on symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia. Mental health outcomes fluctuated as a function of the duration of the pandemic and were alleviated to some extent with the observed decline in community-based transmission. Augmenting resiliency and regular exercise provide an opportunity to mitigate the risk for mental health symptoms during this severe public health crisis.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mental Health
/
Depression
/
Pandemics
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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