Prolonged Lockdown Research Articles

The Effect of Lockdown Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic on Digital Eye Strain Symptoms Among the General Population: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Repetitive prolonged use of digital devices without regular breaks has detrimental effects on ocular health and quality of vision. Individuals with chronic eye problems and refractive errors are at higher risk of developing digital eye strain (DES). Correction of refractive errors, adopting healthy practices will reduce its risk. The survey examined the effect of prolonged lockdown on the development and increased severity of digital eye strain (DES) symptoms among the general population. An online survey was conducted in March 2020 on social media platforms in Jordan. Data from 1,460 responders were analyzed. About half of the respondents were between 30–49 years, 28.4% were retired, 21% had chronic systemic illness, and 23% reported chronic eye problems. A rise in the use of digital devices during lockdown was reported by 957 participants, with 33% of them used digital devices more than 4 h a day. The most common symptoms before and during lockdown were headache and neck / shoulder pain have the highest associations (X2 = 280.0, 271.3, df = 4, p < 0.001 respectively). Female gender, existence of chronic eye problems and systemic diseases, and duration of using digital devices were found to be statistically significant factors associated with increasing severity of eye symptoms during lockdown. Not taking enough regular breaks from digital devices showed significant association with blurred vision at distance and near (X2 = 13.03, 10.74, df = 4, P = 0.011, 0.03, respectively). People with chronic eye problems and increased time using devices during lockdown developed new eye complaints three times more than before the lockdown and males were two times more likely than females to have more severe eye symptoms.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT OF KERALA- A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON KERALA ECONOMY

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), originated at Wuhan, China, has spread to more than 158 countries of the world infecting more than 47 crores of the population as per World Health Organisation data. Since most of the countries had their primary infection through people from pandemic areas, many countries have stopped flight operations and closed their borders. Moreover the pandemic brought trade and business of the affected countries into halt and they also restricted the movement of people in all respects. The flight cancellations caused huge loss to the airline industry. Likewise, many sectors of the society were affected with the prolonged country-wide lockdown, global economic downturn and associated disruption of demand and supply chains. Apart from being a global health concern, COVID-19 is having major consequences on the world economy, and experts have predicted that COVID- 19 will lower global gross domestic product growth by one-half a percentage point for 2020. Furthermore, the economy is likely to face a protracted period of slowdown. The Indian economy also witnessed an unprecedented shock due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic impact is determined by the length of the lockdown and how the situation unfolds after it is lifted. It is important to have a coherent interference of the global researchers to understand and limit the economic fallout. In this context, this study aims to discuss the potential impacts of the pandemic over economy of Kerala, by assessing the GDP data for the last 10 years from 2011to 2020.

Adjustment to lockdown in children and adolescents with narcolepsy in France.

The goal of the current study was to explore the effect of a 2-month quarantine on children and adolescents with narcolepsy and to describe the changes in their sleep, mood, and metabolism during this period. The study involved 77 patients aged 7 to 23 years with a diagnosis of narcolepsy. Participants had to answer multiple-choice questions to characterize the changes and modifications in their own habits and state of health. Participants reported changes in daytime sleep, nighttime sleep schedules, treatment intake, food intake, weight, and amount of screen time. Most patients reported deterioration in their memory and attention abilities as well as a decrease in their work efficiency. Mood appeared to be less affected, although it deteriorated in less than one-third of the participants who reported feeling sad more often. The prolonged and complete lockdown seemed to have an effect on children and adolescents with narcolepsy, and changes are often considered by the participants to depend on or to determine an overall quality of adaptation to the situation. This study highlights the importance of maintaining and strengthening time markers in individuals with narcolepsy and should help to establish guidelines that would apply in future quarantine situations. de Laclause AP, Konofal E, Bokov P, Delclaux C, Lecendreux M. Adjustment to lockdown in children and adolescents with narcolepsy in France. J Clin Sleep Med. 2022;18(9):2247-2252.

Psychological Distress and Access to Mental Health Services Among Undergraduate Students During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Uganda

BackgroundLockdown is an important public health approach aimed at curbing the raging effect of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed at determining the impact of prolonged lockdown on mental health and access to mental health services among undergraduate students in Uganda.MethodsAn online cross-sectional study was conducted anonymously among undergraduates across 10 universities in Uganda. The Distress Questionnaire-5 (DQ-5) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) were used. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine factors associated with psychological distress.ResultsWe enrolled 366 participants with a mean age of 24.5 ± 4.6 years. The prevalence of psychological distress was 40.2% (n = 147) (cut off 14/25 based on DQ-5) while depression stood at 25.7% (n = 94; cut off 3/6 based on PHQ-2) with mean scores of 12.1 ± 4.6 and 1.7 ± 1.6 respectively. Female gender (aOR: 1.6, 95%CI: 1.0–2.6, p = 0.032), pursuing a non-medical program (aOR: 2.2, 95%CI: 1.3–3.7, p = 0.005) were factors associated with psychological distress while non-medical program (aOR: 2.2, 95%CI: 1.3–3.7, p = 0.005) was associated with increased depression. Access to mental health services was associated with both reduced distress (aOR: 0.5, 95%CI: 0.3–0.8, p = 0.005) and depression (aOR: 0.6, 95%CI: 0.3–0.9, p = 0.034). A majority (65.3%) of the participants reported knowing how to access mental health care and 188 (51.4%) reported having needed emotional support but, only 67 (18.3%) ever sought care from a mental health professional. Of those who had access, only 10 (7%), and 13 (9%) accessed a counselor or a mental health unit, respectively. The barriers to accessibility of mental health care included financial limitations (49.5%), lack of awareness (32.5%), lack of mental health professionals (28.4%), and stigma (13.9%).ConclusionAmong university students in Uganda during the COVID- 19 lockdown, the burden of psychological distress and depression was substantial. However, access to mental health services was limited by several factors.

#SurgOnc: Global discussions about surgical cancer care on Twitter during COVID-19.

11045 Background: Social media platforms such as Twitter are highly utilized to communicate about cancer care. Although surgery is the primary treatment for solid malignancies, little is known about public perceptions or communication behaviors regarding this treatment modality. Further, prolonged lockdowns and widespread delays of planned operations during the COVID-19 pandemic have magnified the importance of virtual communication about surgical cancer care. Methods: Tweets referencing cancer surgery were collected from January 2018 to January 2022 using Twitter’s Application Programming Interface. Account metadata was used to predict user demographic information and to compare tweeting metrics across users. Natural language processing models were applied to tweet content to resolve common topics of conversation and to classify tweets by cancer type. Results: There were 442,840 original tweets about cancer surgery by 262,168 users. Individuals accounted for most users (65%) while influencers accounted for the least (1.4%). Influencers made the most median impressions (19,139). Of 240,713 tweets discussing surgery for specific cancers, breast (20%) and neurologic (17%) cancers were most mentioned. When adjusting for national rates of procedures performed, tweets about surgery for neurologic cancers were the most common (231 tweets per 1000 procedures) whereas those for urologic cancers were the least common (15 tweets per 1000 procedures). Discussions about cancer surgery research made up 31% of tweets before the pandemic but only 11% of tweets during the pandemic. During the pandemic, concern regarding COVID-19 related delays was the most tweeted topic (23%). Cancer surgery research was most cited by oncologists, as well as in tweets about hepatopancreatobiliary and colorectal cancers. The cost of surgery was commonly mentioned in tweets about breast and gynecologic cancers and contained the most negative sentiment score (-0.7). Conclusions: Twitter was highly utilized to discuss surgical cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, conversations shifted focus from research to survivorship and reflected real-time events such as COVID-19-related surgical delays. We identified the financial burden of cancer care as a commonly held concern among patients discussing cancer surgery on social media. Future public health outreach about cancer surgery may be optimized by coordinating with influencers and by targeting topics of concern like cost of surgery and undermentioned content like urologic cancers. Twitter’s role as a platform for research dissemination was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and further tracking is needed regarding online research discussions after the pandemic.

Real Property in Chinese Civil Law – The Process of Developing Property Legislation

Abstract January 1, 2021 marks an extremely important event in China’s legislative history, as the day the first Civil Code of the Democratic People’s Republic of China entered into force on May 28, 2020 (the “Chinese Civil Code 2020”), after an extremely long preparation time. The 2020 Chinese Civil Code was considered China’s “Declaration of Civil Rights”, with a huge number of regulations. Understanding legal provisions of the Chinese Civil Code is essential because of the following reasons: firstly, as Vietnam’s neighboring country, China has close relations with Vietnam in many areas of civil life. Secondly, Civil Code is a fundamental law of social life, having a profound influence, so the study of Civil Code should be given priority before studying many other laws. Thirdly, researching laws of other countries will help us realize the points that need to be improved in our laws. Up to now, legal research on this Code has not been much. Despite the prolonged lockdown in the past two years, China’s real estate market is hotter than ever. Real estate is an extremely important asset, especially when the future of other economic sectors is bleak, the society’s financial resources were pouring more and more into real estate, from which relevant conflicts were also increasing, requiring the constant improvement of legal regulations. This study aims to analyze the process of improving Chinese civil law provisions on real property and assess the completion level of the current regulations. To achieve these goals, the study has collected a large number of relevant regulations that China has promulgated and legal discussions of experts. The article is composed of three parts. The first is an overview of real property legislation before the Chinese Civil Code 2020, and the second part is the current regulations. Based on them, the author reports research findings and makes discussion.

The Evolution of Psychological and Behavioral Consequences of Self-Isolation During Lockdown: A Longitudinal Study Across United Kingdom and Italy.

IntroductionSeveral countries imposed nationwide or partial lockdowns to limit the spread of COVID-19 and avoid overwhelming hospitals and intensive care units. Lockdown may involve restriction of movement, stay-at-home orders and self-isolation, which may have dramatic consequences on mental health. Recent studies demonstrated that the negative impact of lockdown restrictions depends on a wide range of psychological and socio-demographic factors.AimsThis longitudinal study aimed to understand how internal factors such as personality and mindfulness traits, and external factors, such as daily habits and house features, affect anxiety, depression and general wellbeing indicators, as well as cognitive functions, during the course of a lockdown.MethodsTo address these questions, 96 participants in Italy and the United Kingdom filled out a survey, once a week for 4 weeks, during the first-wave lockdowns. The survey included questions related to their habits and features of the house, as well as validated questionnaires to measure personality traits, mindful attitude and post-traumatic symptoms. Indicators of wellbeing were the affective state, anxiety, stress and psychopathological indices. We also measured the emotional impact of the pandemic on cognitive ability by using two online behavioral tasks [emotional Stroop task (EST) and visual search].ResultsWe found that internal factors influenced participants’ wellbeing during the first week of the study, while external factors affected participants in the last weeks. In the first week, internal variables such as openness, conscientiousness and being non-judgmental toward one’s own thoughts and emotions were positively associated with wellbeing; instead, neuroticism and the tendency to observe and describe one’s own thoughts and emotions had detrimental effects on wellbeing. Toward the end of the study, external variables such as watching television and movies, browsing the internet, walking the dog, and having a balcony showed a protective value, while social networking and engaging in video calls predicted lower values of wellbeing. We did not find any effects of wellbeing on cognitive functioning.ConclusionRecognizing specific traits and habits affecting individuals’ wellbeing (in both short and long terms) during social isolation is crucial to identify people at risk of developing psychological distress and help refine current guidelines to alleviate the psychological consequences of prolonged lockdowns.

Should China be closed forever? A Preventive Medicine Golden Jubilee commentary

• Prolonged and harsh lockdowns have exerted heavy physical and mental tolls. • China cannot continue the zero policy forever due to impact on health and economy. • We suggest an adaptive, multi-stage, and multi-levels policy as an option forward. • It involves applying different levels of restrictions according to degrees of community transmision and health services capabilities. • It focuses on preventing severe outcomes and minimizing hospitalizations and deaths.

Impact of Prolonged COVID-19 Lockdown on Body Mass Index, Eating Habits, and Physical Activity of University Students in Bangladesh: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

ObjectivesThis current study aims to assess the prevalence and factors associated with body mass index (BMI), dietary patterns, and the extent of physical activities among university students following the prolonged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown in Bangladesh.MethodsA cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted between July 10 to August 10, 2021, through a pre-designed Google Form to collect the data from Bangladeshi university students (age: ≥18 years). Informed consent was electronically obtained from each participant, and a simple snowball technique was employed during the sampling. Frequency and percentage distribution, paired t-test, chi-square [χ2] test, and multinomial and binary logistic regression analyses were consecutively applied to analyze the collected data.ResultsAmong the total participants (n = 1,602), 45.1% were female and 55.6% were 22–25 years' age group students. The BMI (mean ± standard deviation, SD) during the COVID-19 lockdown was 23.52 ± 7.68 kg/m2, which was 22.77 ± 4.11 kg/m2 during the pre-lockdown period (mean difference = 0.753; p < 0.001). The multinomial logistic regression analysis found a significant impact of gender [male vs. female: adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR) = 1.448; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.022, 2.053; p = 0.037], age (years) (<22 vs. >25: RRR =0.389, 95% CI = 0.213,0.710; p = 0.002, and 22–25 vs. >25: RRR = 0.473, 95% CI = 0.290, 0.772; p = 0.003), monthly family income (BDT) (<25,000 vs. >50,000: RRR = 0.525, 95% CI = 0.334,0.826; p = 0.005), university type (public vs. private: RRR = 0.540, 95% CI = 0.369, 0.791; p = 0.002), eating larger meals/snacks (increased vs. unchanged: RRR = 2.401, 95% CI = 1.597, 3.610; p < 0.001 and decreased vs. unchanged: RRR = 1.893, 95% CI = 1.218, 2.942; p = 0.005), and verbally or physically abuse (yes vs. no: RRR = 1.438, 95% CI = 0.977, 2.116; p = 0.066) on obesity during COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the female students and those who have constant eating habits, were more likely to be underweight. Additionally, the binary logistic regression analysis found that the students from private universities [others vs. private: adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.461, 95% CI = 0.313, 0.680; p < 0.001], urban areas (urban vs. rural: AOR = 1.451, 95% CI = 1.165, 1.806; p = 0.001), wealthier families (<25,000 BDT vs. >50,000 BDT: AOR = 0.727, 95% CI = 0.540, 0.979; p = 0.036), and who were taking larger meals/snacks (increased vs. unchanged: AOR = 2.806, 95% CI = 2.190, 3.596; p < 0.001) and had conflicts/arguments with others (no vs. yes: AOR = 0.524, 95% CI = 0.418, 0.657; p < 0.001), were significantly more physically inactive. Finally, the level of education and smoking habits significantly influenced the eating habits of university students during the extended strict lockdown in Bangladesh.ConclusionThe current findings would be helpful tools and evidence for local and international public health experts and policymakers to reverse these worsening effects on students mediated by the prolonged lockdown. Several effective plans, programs, and combined attempts must be earnestly implemented to promote a smooth academic and daily life.

Hostel frictions: backpackers living under lockdown

This article focuses on the ‘frictions’ felt by international backpackers who have been stuck and locked-down while they were living and working in regional Australian hostels. Backpackers play a central role as both tourists and migrant workers in Australia, where they undertake significant periods of required farm work in order to extend their visas. They are a highly visible and long-standing mobile population in Australia and are relatively under-studied given their significance to tourism cultures and economies. Based on forty semi-structured interviews with backpackers living and working in Bundaberg, Australia, we explore how experiences of immobilities prior to and during the pandemic restrictions manifest as experiences of escalating and alleviating frictions. Friction is understood as an embodied and relational feeling of tension produced by a shortage of space. Friction has always been a feature of hostel living but prolonged lockdowns and inconsistent health messaging escalated frictions into open conflict. We propose that the concept of friction sits between mobilities and immobilities, and that particular mobility contexts exacerbate such frictions. The article contributes to ongoing discussions on pandemic immobilities and the interwoven concerns of tourism, migration, and labour mobilities.

Back to life, back to reality: A multi-level dynamic network analysis of student mental health upon return to campus during the COVID-19 pandemic

Lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in drastic disruptions of university students’ everyday life and study mode, such as marked reductions in face-to-face teaching activities. Previous research on student mental health during the pandemic found that prolonged campus relocation had negative effects on students’ mental well-being. However, these studies focussed on the initial lockdown period, or periods of active lockdown measures. This longitudinal study collected 456 observations of 23 undergraduate students in the Netherlands using ecological momentary assessment data on mental health related items (anxiety, stress, social context) during the first two weeks of on-campus teaching after prolonged lockdown measures. Using multi-level dynamic network modelling, we analysed the temporal and contemporaneous interplay of students’ mental health factors following the return to campus in September 2021. On average, students reported low to medium scores on stress and anxiety both before and after the assessment period. Results of network analyses showed that students experienced social unease in relation to accumulating difficulties at university and vice versa. Furthermore, there were clusters of different states of social unease next to clusters of stress, anger, loss of control, and feeling upset. Lastly, we found beneficial effects of self-efficacy on experiencing social comfort in university. We discuss implications and concrete examples of interventions in universities, such as the promotion of self-efficacy, providing guidance in structuring study load, as well as help with stress management.

The South African government’s COVID-19 response: protecting lives and livelihoods

This chapter brings together aspects of the impact of COVID-19 on lives and livelihoods in South Africa. As at 15 August 2021, the epidemic is reported to have led to 77 141 deaths and been associated with 229 850 excess deaths. At the same time, the national economy has been severely affected with Gross Domestic Product decline of 7% in 2020/21, job losses exceeding 2 million, and sharp reductions in national revenue. The chapter takes a case study approach to provide an overview of the Government’s budgetary support to the health and income protection responses as well as the modelling that informed these. It also reviews some of the carry-through implications of the economic down-turn on public finances, including health budgets. The authors draw primarily on their experiences and subsequent reflection, with particular focus on the period 1 March 2021 to 28 February 2022. The budget provision for the health response to COVID-19 exceeded R20 billion, which was achieved through additional allocations and reprioritisation. Income protection measures exceeded R100 billion. However, suboptimal attention was given to how prolonged lockdowns would affect businesses, jobs, livelihoods and the economy over the medium and long term, with job losses initially exceeding 2.2 million and 1.4 million by the first quarter of 2021. As these effects fed through to public finances, growth and tax revenue declined substantially, resulting in reductions in virtually all government budgets. Over the 2021 Medium-term Expenditure Framework period, the economic effects of the epidemic and stringent lockdown measures have resulted in the reduction of provincial health budget projections by as much as R76 billion. The chapter emphasises the need to consider both lives and livelihoods in pandemic decision-making, ideally bringing together various dimensions of epidemiological and economic modelling in a multi-criteria decision framework.

Prolonged Lockdown due to COVID-19 Alters Sleep-Wake Timings and Negatively Affects Self-esteem, Personality, Depression and Anxiety in College-Going Indian Students.

PurposeCOVID-19 forced the shutdown of colleges and socialization around the world including India and prolonged lockdown could have a significant impact on sleep, mood, emotion and anxiety in students. Here, we designed a survey to assess the effect of lockdown on sleep–wake, self-esteem, depression and anxiety via the survey on 321 Indian college-going students.MethodsWe assessed the effect of lockdown on sleep–wake (wake up, get up, bed and sleep timing, total time in bed and sleep duration) and self-esteem and depression on students via various questions.ResultsWe found that students delayed sleep timing by 1 h in lockdown than pre-lockdown days. Specifically, urban male populations were late sleeper than any other group. However, total sleep duration did not differ between groups. In self-esteem questions, most students agreed that they were of no good, felt nervous, displeased, and frustrated about performance in lockdown. Depression and anxiety questionnaire gave more significant results related to mood and mental health. More than 50% of students agreed that they faced a lack of concentration, had been feeling irritated and angry, felt fatigued and tired, and everything had been a failure during lockdown days.ConclusionOverall, the survey suggests that lack of social life and prolonged lockdown affect the sleep–wake cycle, self-esteem, anxiety and depression of Indian students.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41782-022-00200-9.

COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland: Epidemiology, public health restrictions and vaccination uptake

Background: The first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland was managed by a prolonged national lockdown. The second and third waves were managed by continued non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and deployment of a national vaccination programme. This paper aims to describe the epidemiological trends, Public Health restrictions and vaccination uptake during the first three waves of the pandemic. Methods: Data on confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 1 March 2020 to 27 March 2021 were extracted from the national COVID-19 data hub, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and the National Contact Management Programme. Vaccine uptake and epidemiological data from European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control were reported from four other EU states. Results: Ireland experienced three distinct waves of COVID-19; first wave occurred March to August 2020, second August to November 2020 and third from November 2020 onwards. The third wave was attributable to emergence of the Alpha variant of concern (B.1.1.7 strain) and relaxation of public health restrictions in December 2020, when weekly mean number of close contacts per case peaked at 5.2. A similar epidemiological trajectory was observed across four other EU states. Conclusions: Surges of COVID-19 continue to occur despite increasing vaccine coverage in the EU, due to the emergence of novel variants of concern and relaxation of Public Health restrictions. A “vaccine plus policy” is needed.

Does prior SARS-CoV-2 infection increase the risk of adverse effects after mRNA vaccination (BNT162b2) - the retrospective cohort study of physicians.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused major changes in society. The prolonged lockdown led to economic collapse in many countries. Because of this reason, vaccination against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the only hope that may reduce spread of the virus. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the severity of adverse effects after COVID-19 vaccine and prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.Material and methods578 physicians vaccinated with two doses of BNT162b2 were included in the study. Via a form on the Google Form platform data about past SARS-CoV-2 infection and observed adverse effects after taking the vaccination were collected.ResultsThe most common adverse effects were local symptoms (pain at the injection site, limitation of mobility of the upper limb). Pain at injection site occurred in 96,2% of cases after first dose of vaccination. Systemic symptoms (weakness, myalgia, fever) appeared less frequently however after second dose occurred statistically significantly more often than after the first one (χ2 = 121.99,p &lt; 0.001). Statistically, symptoms appeared more often after the first dose in the group of doctors with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection (χ2 = 10.85,p = 0.001). Moreover, in this group, the severity of symptoms after first dose was greater (p&lt; 0.001). However, an inverse relationship was observed after second dose of the vaccination (p&lt; 0.001).ConclusionsThe severity of symptoms after the first dose of the vaccine is greater in people who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the past than people not suffering from COVID-19, but after second dose this relationship is reversed.

THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT’S MEASURES TO SUPPORT THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY DURING COVID-19 CRISES

The pandemic COVID-19 has plunged the world economy into the deepest recession since World War II. Despite additional policy support, GDP of world in 2020 decreased by 5.2 percent, then followed by an increase of 4.2 percent in 2021. The pandemic has deeply interrupted livelihoods, with the termination in nearly 500 million full-time jobs in second quarter of 2020 alone. And this situation pushed about 150 million people into poverty by 2021. The revival of pandemic is blowing out a shadow over the global restoration as countries are forced to pull tight social-distancing measures, but trust has been picked up by news that various vaccines have shown high effectiveness in clinical experiments. The pandemic is forecasting to have long-lasting scarring effects on productivity and prospective growth, as investment loses strength further and human capital accumulation slows for reason of prolonged school lock-downs and extended unemployment. Financing situations in Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) have s amid gathering speed in COVID-19 cases. EMDEs suffering of higher debt burdens or financing needs are especially vulnerable to acute rise in borrowing costs and to restrictions in their access to financing. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows to EMDEs dropped by about 32 percent in 2020 among stalling investment and poor corporate profit. Keywords: pandemic, fiscal assistance, government measures.

The Predictors of Psychological Well-Being in Lithuanian Adolescents after the Second Prolonged Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic.

Recent research highlights the impact of prolonged pandemics and lockdown on the mental health of youngsters. The second wave of COVID-19 brought an increase in mental health problems among young people. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the main factors arising from intra-individual, inter-individual, and environmental contexts that predict good psychological well-being in a group of adolescents after a second prolonged period of social restrictions and distance education. The study included 1483 school students from 11 to 19 years old. The survey assessed self-reported students’ psychological well-being (WHO-5 index), physical activity, sedentary behavior, school social capital, communication with peers and relationships with parents, existing emotional and behavioral problems. The results indicated that 58% of adolescents were of good psychological well-being in spring 2021, after half a year in lockdown. Almost 19% of adolescents had depression risk. The study revealed that during a period of prolonged isolation, male gender, better relationships between young people and their parents, the absence of serious emotional and behavioral problems, less sedentary behavior, and higher school social capital were found to be significant factors predicting adolescents’ psychological well-being. Lower physical activity is an important contributor to students’ poor well-being. Finally, the lack of face-to-face communication with peers was revealed as a specific factor in predicting adolescents with depression risk.

155. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Number and Severity of New Diagnoses of Restrictive Eating Disorders During Prolonged Lockdown in Ontario, Canada

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on the well-being of adolescents and young adults (AYAs). Worldwide, eating disorder (ED) experts have observed worsening symptoms in youth with pre-existing EDs and an escalation in the number of new cases compared to prior years. Disruption of routine, school closures, loss of extracurricular activities, as well as social isolation are potential contributing factors. The Canadian province of Ontario (specifically the most highly populated cities) experienced one of the most prolonged lock downs worldwide with approximately 20 weeks of in-person school closure and/or restriction to virtual learning.

The impact of the initial and second national COVID-19 lockdowns on mental health in young people with and without pre-existing depressive symptoms

BackgroundThe evidence on mental health during COVID-19 evolved fast, but still little is known about the long-lasting impact of the sequential lockdowns. We examine changes in young people's mental health from before to during the initial and second more prolonged lockdown, and whether women and those with pre-existing depressive symptoms were disproportionally impacted. MethodsParticipants reported on mental health indicators in an ongoing 18-year data collection in the Danish National Birth Cohort and in a COVID-19 survey, including 8 data points: 7 in the initial lockdown, and 1 year post. Changes in quality of life (QoL), mental well-being, and loneliness were estimated with random effect linear regressions on longitudinal data (N = 32,985), and linear regressions on repeated cross-sections (N = 28,579). FindingsInterim deterioration in mental well-being and loneliness was observed during the initial lockdown, and only in those without pre-existing depressive symptoms. During the second lockdown, a modest deterioration was again observed for mental well-being and loneliness. QoL likewise only declined among those without pre-existing symptoms, where women showed a greater decline than men. QoL did not normalise during the initial lockdown and remained at lower levels during the second lockdown. These findings were not replicated in the repeated cross-sections. InterpretationExcept for an interim decrease in mental health, and only in those without pre-existing depressive symptoms, this study's findings do not suggest a substantial detrimental impact of the lockdowns.

Socioeconomic crisis and mental health stress among the middle-income group during the covid-19 pandemic

Following the spread of COVID-19, the prolonged lockdown has adversely affected not only the mental health but also the socioeconomic well-being of people, particularly the underprivileged population, across the world. This study was designed to assess the mental health of middle-income people and its association with the socioeconomic crises that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. A semi-structured interview schedule in Bangla was administered to conveniently collect the data from 150 participants based on certain specifications. Findings suggest that COVID-19 status, household debt, and depression were significantly associated with mental stress among middle-income people. Depression, on the other hand, was substantially affected by socio-demographic and socioeconomic status as well as their hygiene and government support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, an individual’s anxiety was determined by income during the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine status, personal hygiene, and socio-demographic factors. To reduce the pandemic-induced stress, depression, and anxiety, the government should provide financial assistance through social safety net and create alternative livelihood opportunities using existing resources. Besides, policymakers should implement community awareness programs about the risk of COVID-19 to minimize both risk of infection and mental health stress.