Association of depression, pain, and quality of life among confirmed Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh

Abstract

The purpose of this cross sectional study was to assess the extent of depression, and the quality of life (QoL) among confirmed Covid-19 Bangladeshi patients tested positive for Covid19 from October 2020 to March 2021. This tele-interview survey included 380 patients. Eligible participants were identified from all available phone numbers of the research population obtained from various RT-PCR labs run by the government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The level of depression, pain and QoL was assessed with PHQ-9, Visual analogue scale (VAS), and short form-12 V2 (SF-12v2) survey instrument respectively. Depression was prevalent in 4 out of every 5 patients. More than two-third of participants had worse physical and mental health than the average citizen after being diagnosed as COVID-19 positive case. Around two-third of respondents had mild to severe pain after recovery from COVID-19. Younger participants (aged ≤50 years) had relatively better QoL and less pain intensity compared to those of older participant (aged >50 years). The respondents who had higher intensity of subjective pain, and worse than the average physical health had higher frequency of depression. Individuals having history of covid-19 are especially vulnerable to develop pain which was associated with depression and lower quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.