Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases During the COVID-19 Outbreak​

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a traumatic event, but a collective stressor unfolding over time, causing alarming implications for the mental health. This study aims to shed light on the mental health status of patients with rheumatic disease (RD) during the massive outbreak of COVID-19 in China, especially the prevalence and severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with the levels in healthy people. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted in a cross-sectional study of 486 RD patients and 486 healthy control subjects. We collected participants’ demographic and clinical characteristics and surveyed the prevalence and severity of PTSD and sleep quality in the samples using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) and 4 items from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Findings: Compared with healthy control subjects (n=486), RD patients (n=486) had a higher prevalence of PTSD (12·1% vs. 4·1%; pInterpretation: During the COVID-19 outbreak, RD patients presented a higher prevalence and severity of PTSD and more sleep disturbances. Our findings confirm the importance of psychological assessment and mental health care in addition to regular clinical care for RD patients during the pandemic. Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Key Clinical Specialty Fund.Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Changzheng Hospital, and informed consent was obtained from all participants.