Concept
Results and Discussion: Trajectories of anxiety and depressive symptoms during enforced isolation due to COVID-19 in England
- Week 1 of isolation: average GAD-7 score: 5.7; average PHQ-9 score: 6.6; people with preexisting mental illness generally had a score for both assessments for anxiety and pressions of 10 or higher
- Over 20 weeks there was a nonlinear decrease in anxiety and depression with little change in the last few weeks of isolation, weeks 16 and 20
- Data suggests highest depression and anxiety at the early stages of lockdown which fell quickly afterwards likely due to people adapting to the circumstances
- Characteristics identified as risk factors for higher anxiety: female, young, low educational attainment, low income, preexisting mental health conditions, living alone
- People living with children had higher anxiety but less depression than people living alone
- There were faster improvements in anxiety and depression in women, young people, people with lower education, and people living with children
- Little evidence of ethnicity affecting mental health status during isolation
- Limitations: the internet based study does not represent people without internet access and self reported diagnosed mental illnesses were not confirmed or completely specified
0
1
Updated 2021-01-31
Tags
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
Biomedical Sciences