Distress and Psychological Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic and Previous Outbreaks Review and Methodological Suggestions

,Barbara Trimarco

doi:10.19070/2332-3000-21000049

Abstract

Distress and Psychological Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic and Previous Outbreaks Review and Methodological Suggestions

Highlights

The present worldwide outbreak of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan (China) and has spread throughout 6 continents, 213 countries and territories around the world, that have reported a total of 9,228,526 confirmed cases, and a death toll of 475,123 deaths
4 studies focused on the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, 2 studies examined the Ebola epidemic, two studies covered the H1N1 pandemic and 1 study focused on the COVID-19 pandemic
The descriptive or observational studies that investigate distress and psychological symptoms in general population during epidemics have focused on very different variables and used varied study designs, leading to mixed results

Summary

Introduction

The present worldwide outbreak of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019; pathogen: SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan (China) and has spread throughout 6 continents, 213 countries and territories around the world, that have reported a total of 9,228,526 confirmed cases, and a death toll of 475,123 deaths (this information includes reports as of 24:00 on June 21st, 2020). During an unexpected worldwide crisis, such as a pandemic, which leads several countries in the world to adopt extreme measures to contain the contagion, the exploration of distress response and psychological impact of this event on general population plays an important role in preventing psychological health emergencies, originating during or soon after the public health crisis. To this aim, our review focuses on the few data on psychological https://scidoc.org/IJBRP.php impact of the current pandemic, and on the results of studies exploring distress and psychological symptoms in people of affected countries during previous outbreaks.

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion