Syeda Kisa Fatima Zaidi, Adeel Alam, Aisha Aziz, Usman Amin, Asma Kazi.
Pandemic 2020 Covid-19 Takes a Toll on Mental Health Causing Anxiety and Depression in People from the General Population.
J Pak Society Int Med Jan ;2(2):157-62.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression in general population due to the spread of covid-19 pandemic. The study was conducted to find differences in the level of mental distress demographically as well as finding the prevalence among the health care providers and those with chronic medical illnesses. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional was carried out via an online survey created through google forms which was circulated through social media apps & websites because of better access to people between 1st - 9th of April 2020. Demographic information and individual responses were obtained through 25 statements each describing an emotion incorporating "Hopkins Scale for anxiety & depression" (with URDU translation). Confidentiality was assured so each question could be answered freely. Chi square statistic test and Z score were applied by taking p <0.05. Results: Among total of 1336 responses, 80.5% of the data was from people living in Pakistan & the rest from all around the globe. Anxiety was found in 71.4% respondents where 71.4% were females and 28.6% were males. Depression was found in 79.9% in which 30.1% were males and 69.9% were females (p value <0.00001). Among the anxious population 39.8% were married where as 60.2% were unmarried. Similarly 39.3% of the depressed people were married and 61.0% were unmarried. Among the male and female gender mental distress was more dominating among the females (n=890) as compared to the males (n=446). It was found out that 44.9% of people with anxiety due to the outbreak and 47.4% with depression did not have any family history of depression/anxiety or psychiatric illness while 48.2% of people with anxiety & 49.9% of people with depression did not have any personal history of depression/anxiety or psychiatric illness. Highest numbers of responses were from the age group of 10-20 years. It was seen that both anxiety and depression were higher among the younger age group (78.4% & 87.4%) whereas much less in the elderly, 60-70 years (47.2% & 58.3%). It was observed that anxiety in people with respiratory illnesses was 1.3 times more as compared to those who did not have any respiratory illness. Similarly depression was 1.2 times more common in people respiratory diseases. Out of 222 health care provider responses, 67.1% of them were reported to have anxiety while 77.9% of them had depression. (Anxiety: value of z is 3.49211. P is 0.00024. Depression: value of z is-2.255. P is 0.01191) Conclusion: Anxiety & depression were more prevalent among the younger age group, females, unemployed and unmarried populations. People with respiratory illnesses suffered greater degree of mental distress due to covid pandemic as compared to those who did not have any respiratory issue. More than half of the health care providers suffered considerably from anxiety and depression hearing about the spread of covid-19 outbreak.

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