Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on an Austrian population with or without pre-existing health issues

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on the well-being of individuals all over the world. The Austrian government decided to take various restrictions to contain the spread of the virus and thus protect the COVID-19 risk groups in particular. The aim of this study is to investigate how the COVID-19 risk groups perceive the pandemic and the restrictions to provide results for similar exceptional situations in the future. Methods: For this purpose, we developed a questionnaire consisting of eleven items concerning the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on well-being and behavior. Participants of the ongoing epidemiological Paracelsus 10,000 study (P10), in Salzburg, Austria, were included. We analyzed data from 989 people and classified the participants into three sub-groups depending on their risk of suffering from a severe course of a COVID-19 infection and tested for effects of risk group, sex, and their interaction. For a better overview we decided to group the questions into four main topics, named “changes in behavior and environment”, “worries caused by the virus and the restrictions”, “mood and mental state” and “long-lasting effects.” Results: We found significant differences between the sub-groups in all main topics and a worsening in well-being across the entire sample. Especially anxiety, insecurity, nervousness, and sleep problems increased while satisfaction decreased. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions have created a highly uncertain environment and the topic was omnipresent and therefore had effects on the well-being and behavior of the risk groups as well as on our entire cohort.