Mental Health in Individuals with a History of Mental Disorder during COVID-19-Pandemic - Preliminary Results of the National Cohort Study in Germany

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Research of COVID-19-Pandemic mental health impact focus on three groups the general population, (2) so called vulnerable groups (e.g. individuals with mental disorders) and (3) individuals suffering COVID-19 including Long-COVID syndromes. Objective(s) We investigate whether individuals with a history of depression in the past, react to the COVID-19 pandemic with increased depressive symptoms. Method(s) Longitudinal Data stem from the NAKO-Baseline- Assessment (2014-2019, 18 study centers in Germany, representative sampled individuals from 20 to 74 years) and the subsequent NAKO-COVID-Assessment (5-11/2020). The sample for analysis comprises 115.519 individuals. History of psychiatric disorder was operationalized as lifetime self-report for physician-diagnosed depression. Depressive symptoms were measured with the PHQ 9. Result(s) Mean age of the sample at baseline was 49.95 (SD 12.53). It comprised 51.70 women;14 % of the individuals had a history of physician-diagnosed depression. Considering a PHQ-Score with cutoff 10 as a clinical relevant depression, 3.65%of the individuals without history of depression and 24.19 % of those with a history of depression were depressed at baseline. The NAKO-COVID-Assessment revealed 6.53 % depressed individuals without any history of depression and a similar rate of 23.29 % in those with history of depression. Conclusion(s) In contrast to that what we expected, individuals with a history of a physician-diagnosed depression, did not react with increasing depressiveness during the first phase of the pandemic in Germany. Several reasons could be discussed. Whether there medium and long-term impact remains open.