Generalized anxiety disorder among Bangladeshi university students during COVID-19 pandemic: gender specific findings from a cross-sectional study

Rasma Muzaffar,Rehnuma Abdullah,Darryn Williams,Shirmin Bintay Kader,Umme Kawser,M Tasdik Hasan,Helal Uddin Ahmed,Kamrun Nahar Koly,Ariful Bari Chowdhury,Md Abdullah Al Jubayer Biswas,Sabrina Choudhury

doi:10.1007/s44192-022-00005-2

Abstract

In the current COVID-19 pandemic there are reports of deteriorating psychological conditions among university students in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), but very little is known about the gender differences in the mental health conditions on this population. This study aims to assess generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among university students using a gender lens during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted using web-based Google forms between May 2020 and August 2020 among 605 current students of two universities in Bangladesh. Within the total 605 study participants, 59.5% (360) were female. The prevalence of mild to severe anxiety disorder was 61.8% among females and 38.2% among males. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, females were 2.21 times more likely to have anxiety compared to males [AOR: 2.21; CI 95% (1.28–53.70); p-value: 0.004] and participants’ age was negatively associated with increased levels of anxiety (AOR = 0.17; 95% CI = 0.05–0.57; p = 0.001). In addition, participants who were worried about academic delays were more anxious than those who were not worried about it (AOR: 2.82; 95% CI 1.50–5.31, p = 0.001). These findings of this study will add value to the existing limited evidence and strongly advocate in designing gender-specific, low-intensity interventions to ensure comprehensive mental health services for the young adult population of Bangladesh.

Highlights

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global public health emergency that has been detrimental to the overall population’s mental health [1]
Evidence suggests that gender differences exist in common mental health conditions among varying age groups, in particular, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and depression are more prevalent among females [5]
South Asian countries like Pakistan and India reported a higher number of young female university students aged 18–25 years compared to men, suffering from these psychological conditions due to COVID-19 [11, 13]

Summary

Introduction

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global public health emergency that has been detrimental to the overall population’s mental health [1]. The preventive measures for COVID-19 transmission have had a direct negative bearing on global mental health of the world population, of which one quarter are youths aged 10–24 years [2, 3]. Gender has showed a statistically significant association with mental health disorders, alongside the other major social determinants such as age, education, marital status, income level, occupation etc. Studies during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that in high-income countries, young female adults attending universities were more susceptible to common mental health conditions such as anxiety, depressive symptoms, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [8–12]. South Asian countries like Pakistan and India reported a higher number of young female university students aged 18–25 years compared to men, suffering from these psychological conditions due to COVID-19 [11, 13]

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