Mental health in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional analyses from a community cohort study.
BMJ Open
; 10(9): e040620, 2020 09 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-772181
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
Previous pandemics have resulted in significant consequences for mental health. Here, we report the mental health sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic in a UK cohort and examine modifiable and non-modifiable explanatory factors associated with mental health outcomes. We focus on the first wave of data collection, which examined short-term consequences for mental health, as reported during the first 4-6 weeks of social distancing measures being introduced.DESIGN:
Cross-sectional online survey.SETTING:
Community cohort study.PARTICIPANTS:
N=3097 adults aged ≥18 years were recruited through a mainstream and social media campaign between 3 April 2020 and 30 April 2020. The cohort was predominantly female (n=2618); mean age 44 years; 10% (n=296) from minority ethnic groups; 50% (n=1559) described themselves as key workers and 20% (n=649) identified as having clinical risk factors putting them at increased risk of COVID-19. MAIN OUTCOMEMEASURES:
Depression, anxiety and stress scores.RESULTS:
Mean scores for depression ([Formula see text] =7.69, SD=6.0), stress ([Formula see text] =6.48, SD=3.3) and anxiety ([Formula see text] = 6.48, SD=3.3) significantly exceeded population norms (all p<0.0001). Analysis of non-modifiable factors hypothesised to be associated with mental health outcomes indicated that being younger, female and in a recognised COVID-19 risk group were associated with increased stress, anxiety and depression, with the final multivariable models accounting for 7%-14% of variance. When adding modifiable factors, significant independent effects emerged for positive mood, perceived loneliness and worry about getting COVID-19 for all outcomes, with the final multivariable models accounting for 54%-57% of total variance.CONCLUSIONS:
Increased psychological morbidity was evident in this UK sample and found to be more common in younger people, women and in individuals who identified as being in recognised COVID-19 risk groups. Public health and mental health interventions able to ameliorate perceptions of risk of COVID-19, worry about COVID-19 loneliness and boost positive mood may be effective.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety
/
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Stress, Psychological
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Depression
/
Employment
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
BMJ Open
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjopen-2020-040620
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