Depressive symptoms associated with COVID-19 preventive practice measures, daily activities in home quarantine and suicidal behaviors: Findings from a large-scale online survey in Bangladesh

Md Saiful Islam,Md Safaet Hossain Sujan,Rafia Tasnim,Mark D Griffiths,Abu Syed Md Mosaddek,Sourav Kundu,Md Tajuddin Sikder,Most Zannatul Ferdous,Promi Tahsin,Jakir Hossain Bhuiyan Masud

doi:10.1186/s12888-021-03246-7

Abstract

BackgroundThe world is facing a public health emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological wellbeing among individuals worldwide has been negatively affected by the pandemic especially in low- and middle-income countries such as Bangladesh. The present study aimed to assess the estimate of depressive symptoms and investigated its associations with COVID-19 preventive practice measures, daily activities in home quarantine, and suicidal behaviors in a large-scale Bangladeshi online survey.MethodsAn online-based cross-sectional survey was widely distributed to Bangladeshi citizens. A total of 13,654 participants (61.0% male; mean age = 24.0 years [SD = 6.0]; age range 18–65 years) completed the survey between May and June (2020). The survey included socio-demographics and COVID-19-related questions, along with lifestyle, suicidal, and psychometric measures. Hierarchical regression was performed to determine significant associations between depression and examined variables.ResultsThe estimate of depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic was 43.5%. Based on hierarchical regression analysis, depression was significantly associated with not engaging in COVID-19 preventive measures, daily activities in home quarantine (e.g., playing videogames), and suicidal behaviors.ConclusionsDepressive symptoms appeared to be high during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. To fight against the pandemic, mental health issues as well as physical health issues need to be taken into consideration.

Highlights

The world is facing a public health emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
Comparison with other studies Despite wide variation among community settings, cultural backgrounds, participant perspectives, and survey methodologies, the results reported here broadly concur with previous works, including previous surveys, review papers, and meta-analyses that examined (i) depression, (ii) depression and lifestyle/behaviors, and (iii) suicidal behaviors for general population
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant health and life risks in Bangladesh, as well as exacerbating and possibly creating psychological problems such as depression and suicidal ideation among the general population

Summary

Introduction

The world is facing a public health emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The world is facing a public health emergency situation of international concern due to the novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) [1]. By March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease to be a pandemic as it quickly spread through the rest of the world. This deadly virus has already infected over 155 million individuals and killed over 3.2 million people globally [2]. In Bangladesh (where the present study was carried out), the virus was first reported on March 8, 2020 [3, 4]. The virus quickly spread and there have been more than 767,000 cases and over 11,700 deaths (May 5, 2021) [5]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion