Impact on the Mental and Physical Health of the Portuguese Population during the COVID-19 Confinement

Fátima Frade,Rosário Martins,Carlos Ruiz-Frutos,Juan Gómez-Salgado,João Frade,Lia Jacobsohn,Regina Allande-Cussó

doi:10.3390/jcm10194464

Abstract

Confinement of the population has been one of the measures implemented by different governments to address the COVID-19 health crisis, and it has led to social isolation together with a disruption of daily activities. The aim of the study is to analyze psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. During the quarantine, a cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 2120 subjects over 18 years of age, resident and born in Portugal. Data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire that considered socio-demographic variables, physical symptoms, health conditions, and history of contact with COVID-19, as well as psychological alterations. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was also included. Univariate and bivariate statistical analyses were performed. Predictive capacity was studied using logistic regression models. The results showed a higher percentage of individuals presenting psychological distress (57.2.0%), with a higher percentage identified among women (79.0%), and in people with a higher educational level (bachelor’s + master’s and doctorate) (75.8%). The predictor variables with the greatest weight were sex, educational level (graduation, master’s, and doctorate), living with children or under 16 years of age, presence of symptoms, and quarantine in the last 14 days for having symptoms. Good self-assessment of health and working at home appear to be protective against psychological distress. These results highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress and provide an opportunity to consider the need to implement specific multidisciplinary public health and mental health interventions in this pandemic situation.

Highlights

In 2019, the world was surprised by a pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which was called COVID-19
Regarding the evaluation of the perception of the health of our sample, the results show that the group of people who do not experience psychological distress expressed a better evaluation of their health compared to the group that had psychological distress, both made a good self-assessment of their health
The predictor variables for psychological distress were sex, educational background, living with children or young people under 16 years of age, number of symptoms presented in the last 14 days, quarantine for presenting symptoms, having had contact with a person or material suspected of being infected by COVID-19, and having had close contact with a person with confirmed COVID-19 infection

Summary

Introduction

In 2019, the world was surprised by a pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which was called COVID-19. As of February 2021, there were 111,102,016 cases of infection by the new coronavirus and 2,462,911 deaths worldwide [1]. In Portugal, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection is 798,074 and the number of deaths is 16,023 [2]. Much research has been done in relation to it and in relation to the impact it has had on the physical and psychological health of people living through the pandemic caused by it. The main psychological effects of the virus influence people’s mental health, causing higher levels of stress, anxiety, psychological distress, and depression [3,4,5,6,7,8]

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