Prevalence and factors associated with anxiety and depression symptoms in adults from Chihuahua City, Mexico during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures

Abstract

Introduction: Levels of anxiety and depression have increased internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms and identify their associated factors including lockdown measures in the general population over 18 years from Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Cross-sectional study, with online survey and snowball sampling. The GAD-7 (anxiety), PHQ-9 (depression) and Likert (social distancing measures) scales were used. Frequencies, measures of central tendency and dispersion were calculated; a bivariate analysis was performed with odds ratio as a measure of association between those with the presence and absence of anxiety and depression symptoms; for the total population and stratifying by sex, calculating the degree of association between the categorical variables using Fisher's exact test and Chi2, considering a p<.05. Results: From 377 participants, 46% had symptoms of anxiety and 43% depressive symptoms. Being a woman, single, young, student, not exercising, smoking, alcohol consumption, practicing social distancing measures, the history of a previous mental disorder or mental health care, were associated with the presence of symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Discussion and conclusion: High prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms were found, justifying a follow-up of the mental health of the population. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54167/tecnociencia.v16i1.889