Abstract
Objective: To understand the mental health status and its risk factors among discharged COVID-19 patients during the first month of centralized quarantine and the subsequent home isolation.Methods: The scales of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to measure the symptoms of insomnia, anxiety, and depression in 782 COVID-19 patients during the first month of centralized quarantine (March 16 to 26, 2020) and then during home isolation (April 3 to 10, 2020).Results: During the centralized quarantine, the prevalence rates of insomnia, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were 44.37, 31.59, and 27.62%, respectively, and those during the home isolation decreased significantly at 27.11, 17.26, and 16.11%, respectively. In both waves, women showed a higher prevalence of symptoms of poor mental health compared to men, and middle-aged (40–59 years old) and elderly (≥60 years old) showed a higher risk of symptoms of poor mental health compared to the younger. In addition, the severity of COVID-19 revealed no significant relationship to symptoms of poor mental health, whereas, the interaction analysis revealed that those with other underlying diseases showed more symptoms of poor mental health during the centralized quarantine and a greater decrease during the follow-up home isolation.Conclusion: The discharged COVID-19 patients suffered from mental health problems such as, insomnia, depression, and anxiety, and this was especially so for women, the middle-aged and elderly, and those with underlying diseases, but along with the rehabilitation and the environmental change from centralized quarantine to home isolation, all the mental symptoms were significantly alleviated. Based on a follow-up investigation, the current results provide critical evidence for mental health and early rehabilitation upon the discharged COVID-19 patients.
Highlights
Major epidemics have a serious impact on both physical and mental health
The prevalence rate of comorbidity was 14.5% in the first wave, but this significantly decreased to 9.0% in the second wave (p < 0.001)
Though the discharged patients’ mental symptoms significantly decreased, there were some who failed to recover when moving from the centralized quarantine to the home isolation
Summary
Major epidemics have a serious impact on both physical and mental health. Since December 2019, cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been detected in Wuhan, other regions of China, and many overseas societies. Most epidemic-related psychological studies are mainly concerned with ordinary residents and medical staff, and previous psychological studies on COVID-19 patients have just conducted a single, cross-sectional survey during their hospitalization, while there are very few follow-up investigations of mental health among discharged patients. Men and the elderly have no advantage in the face of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, unlike ordinary diseases or life stress events. They are more susceptible to viruses, and viral infections and some experimental drug treatments will aggravate the underlying diseases and physical and mental pain [2]
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