The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental health of Asians: A study of seven middle-income countries in Asia.

Bach Xuan Tran ,Nutta Taneepanichskul,Ziqi Xu,Cuiyan Wang,Hina Ayaz Habib ,Ashley Edward Roy,Bernard Jqw Koh ,Roger Ho ,Mohammad Ali Fardin ,Mahmoud Shirazi,Vipat Kuruchittham,Shahzad Hussain,Wandee Srichokchatchawan,Wenfang Ma,Linkang Xu,Xuan Thi Thanh Le ,Cherica A Tee ,Michael L Tee ,Men Thi Hoang ,Giang Thu Vu ,Cyrus S.h Ho ,Yilin Tan,Danqing Zhou,Roger S Mcintyre,Hai Quang Pham

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0246824

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the economy, livelihood, and physical and mental well-being of people worldwide. This study aimed to compare the mental health status during the pandemic in the general population of seven middle income countries (MICs) in Asia (China, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam). All the countries used the Impact of Event Scale–Revised (IES-R) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) to measure mental health. There were 4479 Asians completed the questionnaire with demographic characteristics, physical symptoms and health service utilization, contact history, knowledge and concern, precautionary measure, and rated their mental health with the IES-R and DASS-21. Descriptive statistics, One-Way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression were used to identify protective and risk factors associated with mental health parameters. There were significant differences in IES-R and DASS-21 scores between 7 MICs (p<0.05). Thailand had all the highest scores of IES-R, DASS-21 stress, anxiety, and depression scores whereas Vietnam had all the lowest scores. The risk factors for adverse mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic include age <30 years, high education background, single and separated status, discrimination by other countries and contact with people with COVID-19 (p<0.05). The protective factors for mental health include male gender, staying with children or more than 6 people in the same household, employment, confidence in doctors, high perceived likelihood of survival, and spending less time on health information (p<0.05). This comparative study among 7 MICs enhanced the understanding of metal health in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

Emerging psychiatric conditions and mental well-being were identified as the tenth most frequent research topic during the COVID-19 pandemic [1]
A recent systematic review found that relatively high rates of symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and stress were reported in the general population and health care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic globally [2, 3]
Asia has a number of middle income countries (MICs) that face tremendous economic challenges and limited medical resources to maintain physical and mental well-being during the pandemic [4]

Summary

Introduction

Emerging psychiatric conditions and mental well-being were identified as the tenth most frequent research topic during the COVID-19 pandemic [1]. Asia has a number of middle income countries (MICs) that face tremendous economic challenges and limited medical resources to maintain physical and mental well-being during the pandemic [4]. This extended to North America as well, with the sudden change in economic security during COVID-19 projected to increase suicide rates [5]. It is important to conduct research to assess psychiatric status of Asians living in MICs to develop capacity of various health systems to respond to COVID-19. Previous studies mainly focused on mental health of individual Asian countries during the pandemic without cross comparison [7,8,9]

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Conclusion