Abstract
Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is profoundly affecting the mental health status. Although the burden of mental health problems has been reported in the general population and health care workers, little is known about the prevalence of mental health disorders among recovered COVID-19 patients and their associated factors.Methods: A cross-sectional telephonic-study of recovered COVID-19 patients with and without a history of hospitalization was conducted from April 20 to June 20, 2020, in Tehran, Iran. We assessed the anxiety symptoms, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among participants, using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) and PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Logistic regression analyses were used to explore the risk factors associated with mental health problems.Results: A total of 602 individuals with a mean age of 53.2 years (SD: 14.7), completed the study. The rates of mental health symptoms among the respondents were 5.8% (95% CI: 4.2–7.8%) for anxiety, 5.0% (95% CI: 3.5–7.0%) for depression, and 3.8% (95% CI: 2.3–5.3%) for PTSD disorders. Moreover, being younger than 50 years and female gender was significantly associated with a higher probability of reporting anxiety (p < 0.01), and depression (p < 0.001 for being younger than 50 years, p < 0.02 for female gender).Conclusions: The current study indicated that patients with COVID-19 presented features of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. These results may help implement appropriate mental health intervention policies for those at risk and minimize the mental health consequences of the COVID-19.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is profoundly affecting the mental health status
Study participants included those with a severe form of COVID-19 who were hospitalized in the last month and individuals with mild to moderate form of COVID-19 who had been discharged from hospitals without hospitalization
645 participants initially participated in the study; after excluding 43 individuals with missing/incomplete responses and without the consent forms, data on 602 patients remained for analysis (93.3%)
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is profoundly affecting the mental health status. To date (August 29th, 2020), over 24 million confirmed cases and 830,000 deaths attributable to this disease had been reported. In response to this global health crisis, strict public health measures have been implemented to restrict the spread of the virus [1,2,3,4,5]. As a result of the rapidly increasing numbers of infected cases, many patients along with the symptoms of the disease itself, have been experiencing psychological problems including depression, anxiety, and stress [6,7,8,9,10,11]. Treatment for COVID-19 may have adverse effects on mental health and contribute to anxiety [18]
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