Abstract
To study the long-term psychological effects of Covid-19 disease, we recruited 61 patients older than 60 years of age and administered the Kessler questionnaire K10 to assess psychological distress and classify them according to mental health risk groups. Patients' affective temperaments were assessed with the 39-item form of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego (TEMPS-A-39) and emotional dysregulation with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Patients were divided in two samples according to their scores on the K10, i.e., a high likelihood of psychological distress group (N = 18) and a low likelihood of psychological distress group (N = 43). The two groups differed on their gender composition, in that more women (N = 11) were in the former and more men in the latter (N = 29) (χ2 = 4.28; p = 0.039). The high likelihood of psychological distress group scored higher on the Cyclothymic (3.39 ± 3.45 vs. 0.93 ± 1.08, p < 0.001) and the Depressive (2.28 ± 2.82 vs. 0.65 ± 1.09, p = 0.01) affective temperaments of the TEMPS and on the lack of Impulse control (12.67 ± 4.04 vs. 9.63 ± 3.14, p = 0.003) and lack of Clarity (15.00 ± 5.56 vs. 9.85 ± 4.67, p = 0.004) scales of the DERS. Our results show that having had Covid-19 may be related with high likelihood for psychological distress in advanced-age people and this may in turn be associated with impaired emotional regulation and higher scores on depressive and cyclothymic temperaments.
Highlights
The Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown have caused significant distress in the general population in many countries and resulted in various psychological problems in the caregivers [1], healthcare workers [2], and the patients themselves [3,4,5]
In this study we found people who fully recovered from Covid-19 and who display at least two consecutive negative nasal/nasopharyngeal swabs to show considerably more psychological distress, as measured through the K10, than the Italian and worldwide general population [32, 35]
Patients who recovered from Covid-19 and who reported psychological distress presented with more occurrences of cyclothymic and depressive affective temperaments and scored higher on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) scale dimensions of lack of impulse control and lack of clarity
Summary
The Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown have caused significant distress in the general population in many countries and resulted in various psychological problems in the caregivers [1], healthcare workers [2], and the patients themselves [3,4,5]. The response to the Covid-19 pandemic could prove to be analogous to the response to natural disasters or other similar catastrophic events impinging upon a population [8], and may cause permanent distress in the affected population [9]. The psychological response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been promptly reported; in hardly-hit populations, it is similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in the population [11]. Patients with Covid-19 reported many PTSD and depressive symptoms [13]. A meta-analysis reported depressed mood, insomnia, anxiety, irritability, memory impairment, fatigue, and traumatic memories as the most frequent complaints in the post-illness stage [14]
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