A comparison of anxiety levels before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

An umbrella review of the prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic: Call to action for post-COVID-19 at the global level

BACKGROUND

Pandemics can lead to mental health problems such as depression. This meta-analysis of meta-analyses aimed to estimate the precise prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Embase were searched for published meta-analyses using relevant keywords, such as depression, prevalence, COVID-19, and meta-analysis up to March 18, 2024 according to the PRISMA guidelines. Relevant journals as well as the search engine Google Scholar were manually searched to discover more articles. The AMSTAR tool was used for quality assessment. A random-effects model was used for the analysis. All analyses were conducted using the STATA 17 software.

RESULTS

Of 535 records, 82 meta-analyses were included. The results showed that the overall prevalence of depression was 30% [95% CI: 29-32] with a high heterogeneity (I2: 90.98%). The highest prevalence of depression according to population group was found in medical students (40% [30-49]), specific groups (40% [3-78]), and patients (36% [27-45]). The results of meta-regression based on the different times between the start of COVID-19 and the last date of search in the articles (week) and the prevalence of depression, showed that each past week of Covid-19 increases the prevalence of depression by almost 0.00021% [95% CI: -0.00025, 0.00068], P-value: 0.36, but "time" is not a significant predictor of an increase in depression.

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that the prevalence of depression was high during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among medical students. Policy makers should pay more attention to these groups and those who are at greater risk. Primary mental health interventions and policies are necessary to support the mental health of these individuals during the pandemic.

Exploring the relationship across autonomous motivation, affects, and anxiety among gym practitioners during the second COVID-19 lockdown

The present study explores the association of autonomous motivation and the relationship of positive and negative affect on anxiety levels among individuals engaged in gym practitioners during the second COVID-19 lockdown. A total of 196 exercisers (29.17 ± 10.77) were enrolled in the present study, of which 112 (57.1%) were women and 84 (42.9%) were men. The survey included sociodemographic data, as well as validated instruments measuring autonomous motivation, positive and negative affect, and anxiety states related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed a positive association between autonomous motivation and positive affect (β = 0.36, CI 0.12, 0.37; p < 0.001), and a negative association between autonomous motivation and negative affect (β = - 0.17, CI - 0.31, - 0.01; p = 0.03). Moreover positive, and negative affect are negatively (β = - 0.33, CI - 0.43, - 0.24; p < 0.001) and positively (β = 0.72, CI 0.57, 0.82; p < 0.001) associated to anxiety, respectively. Thus, this study appears to emphasize the association of autonomous motivation on affect as a potential buffer against anxiety levels, particularly in a context where practitioners found themselves restricted in their usual gym practices.

Mental health in undergraduate students several months into the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic

OBJECTIVE

To compare mental health indicators among undergraduates in Fall 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and Fall 2020, when many students returned to campus amidst restrictions on in-person contact.

PARTICIPANTS

Analyses included 26,881 undergraduate students, aged 18-24, from 70 U.S. institutions.

METHODS

Students completed the National College Health Assessment-III survey in Fall 2019 or Fall 2020.

RESULTS

The prevalences of high stress, loneliness, a low flourishing score, and serious psychological distress increased in 2020 compared to 2019. Serious psychological distress increased substantially in 2020 among students not living with family (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR)=1.36, 95% CI 1.29-1.45) but not among students living with family (aPR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.95-1.26).

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest prevalences of several indicators of poor mental health were elevated among U.S. undergraduates several months into the pandemic. The pandemic may have had greater impact on mental health among students not living with family.

Health professionals who have worked in COVID-19 immunization centers suffer the effects of violence

Background

The phenomenon violence against health professionals has received increasing attention in recent years because of its frequency and significant impact on victims' mental health and disruption of health services. Despite this attention, little is known about the incidence of workplace violence in the highly politicized immunization services. Therefore, we decided to examine the prevalence of workplace violence in the COVID-19 immunization campaign, the risk and protective factors, and the impact on victims' mental health.

Methods

Between March and April 2022, we conducted an anonymous online survey among health professionals working in COVID-19 vaccination centers in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region (Italy). We used the Questionnaire for Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised.

Results

Of the 200 participants, 93 (46.5%) reported being victims of an act of violence during the vaccination campaign, 60 of them verbally and 7 physically. In 35.5% of cases, the IES score indicated a possible post-traumatic stress reaction in the victim. Opinions on measures to prevent violence and support workers in the workplace differed according to the sex of the health professional, with women emphasizing the need for self-defense training and improvement of security arrangements (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

One-third of health professionals involved in the COVID-19 immunization campaign reported that their mental health was affected by workplace violence. Public health professionals dealing with politicized and debated issues such as immunization should receive more attention, as should the implementation of a more structured and multidisciplinary approach to the problem within healthcare organizations.

Preoperative anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic: A single-center observational study and comparison with a historical cohort

Background

Preoperative anxiety is a common sensation experienced by patients undergoing surgical interventions. It can influence intraoperative and postoperative management through the activation of the neuroendocrine system, leading to tachycardia, hypertension, pulmonary complications, higher consumption of anesthetic drugs, and increased postoperative pain. Our aim was to investigate the level of preoperative anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic; we also compared it to the preoperative anxiety of a historical cohort before the outbreak.

Methods

This is a single-center observational study. We enrolled 314 patients during the pandemic from May 2021 to November 2021, and our historical cohort consisted of 122 patients enrolled from July 2015 to May 2016 in the university hospital "Federico II" of Naples. The Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used to evaluate preoperative anxiety. In particular, APAIS measures preoperative anxiety and the need for information, and STAI assesses state and trait anxiety through STAI-Y1 and STAI-Y2, respectively. We analyzed APAIS and STAI scores in our population stratified on the basis of age, gender, marital status, previous surgical experiences, and type of surgery, and we compared them to our historical cohort. Statistical analysis was performed through a t-test and ANOVA for parametric data, and the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests for non-parametric data. Linear regression was used to investigate the correlation between demographic data and the scores of STAI and APAIS in both groups.

Results

Our results showed that state and preoperative anxiety remained stable, whereas trait anxiety increased in all the subgroups analyzed.

Discussion

Even if state anxiety is considered a variable characteristic of the emotional sphere and trait anxiety a stable element, our findings suggested that COVID-19 deeply influenced trait anxiety, thus altering the patients' psychological foundations.

Needs of cancer patients during the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lockdown: A population-based survey in Shanghai, China

The aim of this study was to investigate the medical and healthcare needs of cancer patients during the Shanghai lockdown due to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron pandemic. From April 15 to April 21, 2022, 4,195 cancer patients from every district in Shanghai were surveyed using quota sampling via an online platform. The questionnaire consisted of three main parts: demographic and sociological data, disease diagnosis, and different dimensions of patients' needs. Correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between participants' need scores in each dimension, and generalized linear regression models were used to analyze the factors influencing patients' need scores. The mean age of participants was 63.23 years (SD: 7.43 years), with more female than male participants (80.38% vs. 19.62%). Among participants, the three leading groups of patients were those with breast cancer (39.02%), colorectal cancer (12.82%), or tracheal and bronchial lung cancer (10.23%). Social support, dietary/nutritional support, and psychological counselling ranked as the top three needs of cancer patients. In addition, vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 may reduce psychological anxiety in cancer patients. Compared to participants who had never received the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, participants who had received one, two, or three doses of the vaccine were respectively 36% (odds ratio (OR): 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.56-0.73), 38% (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.59-0.54), and 37% (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.60-0.66) less likely to have an increased need for psychological counseling. In light of constraints on offline medical resources for cancer patients during the lockdown, the current authors have begun to re-examine the universal accessibility and spread of telemedicine in the future. In addition, immune barriers can be established for cancer patients and vaccination guidelines for different disease stages, tumor types, and treatment regimens can be explored in detail.