Download PDF
CC BY 4.0 · Journal of Health and Allied Sciences NU
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1768589
Original Article

Depression, Anxiety, and Stress with and without COVID-19 Infection

Snigdha Sinha 
1   Department of Psychology, CHRIST University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
,
Alphonsa Jose K
1   Department of Psychology, CHRIST University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
,
Smitha Baboo
1   Department of Psychology, CHRIST University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
› Further Information
   Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Objectives Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the respiratory system predominantly. However, post-COVID recovery, many manifested neurological and psychological symptoms, unrelated to the respiratory system. We aimed to estimate psychological impairment in individuals who were infected with COVID-19 in comparison with two uninfected control groups, and between different age cohorts.

Materials and Methods We compared three groups with respect to COVID-19—those infected, those not infected but witness to someone infected, and those neither infected nor witness to anyone infected, along with age cohort comparison. The standard Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 42 items (DASS 42) questionnaire, with additional questions were answered by 301 participants.

Statistical Analysis SPSS was used for analyses, with Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis test, and Tukey's post hoc test.

Results Significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress were found in the infected group than in the uninfected groups, and significant difference was found between the older age cohorts (50 and above) of each group. The percentages of the infected group with severe to very severe depression, anxiety, and stress were higher than the other groups.

Conclusion There is greater psychological impairment in individuals post-COVID recovery, and there is higher impairment in the older age cohort that is recovered, compared to controls.

Keywords

post-COVID recovery - COVID-19 infection - depression - anxiety - stress

Statement

Conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (1964). Presented to the departmental research review committee, wherein it was exempted from requiring IRB approval because of the nature of study—it involved no harm or distress to any participant.


Presentation

Presented (online) at the International Conference on Mental Health and COVID-19 (ICMHC 2022), held by Aligarh Muslim University, on the 25th of November, 2022.


Authors' Contributions

S.S.: Design, concept, collecting data, collating data, analyzing, writing manuscript, conducting study ethically.


A.J.K.: Design, critically reviewing manuscript, analyzing data.


S.B.: Design, critically reviewing manuscript.




Publication History

Article published online:
30 May 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India