The impact of COVID-19 on the prevalence of anxiety disorders among Nigerians

Abstract

Background The coronavirus pandemic has been attributed to mental health disorders, but little is known about the prevalence of anxiety disorder amongst Nigerians during lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this paper aimed at assessing the prevalence and pattern of anxiety among the Nigerian general population and also examine some of the causative factors. Materials and methods A descriptive online cross-sectional survey of 1651 Nigerians was conducted. Data were collected using questionnaires structured in an electronic format from 10th May 2020 - 13th June 2020. The prevalence and pattern of anxiety disorder were described using descriptive statistics. A multivariate analysis was performed using binary logistic regression, to determine the strength of association between the selected socio-demographic factors (age, gender, educational status, marital status, financial status, time spent on social media) and anxiety disorder. Results Of the 1651 sample size, over three-quarter (78.6%) have experienced symptoms of anxiety. The proportions of the respondent with mild, moderate, and severe anxiety were 56.3%, 17.7%, and 4.5%, respectively. The study has shown a strong association between age, financial status, occupation, and time spent on social media daily and its contribution to stemming anxiety during the pandemic. Age, financial status, occupation, and time spent on the internet has a statistically highly significant effect on anxiety. There was a significant association between anxiety and financial status as individuals who earn less than 50,000 in a year had the highest prevalence of anxiety Conclusion and Recommendations Since the inception of COVID-19, it's no doubt that many Nigerians had experienced a level of anxiety and this widely goes across all genders equally. Our findings revealed the pattern and prevalence of anxiety disorders among Nigerians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government of Nigeria should make available, psychological health services for survivors of COVID-19.