COVID-19 (The 2019 Corona Virus Disease) is a highly contagious infectious disease that affects the functioning of many organs and systems. The severe cases of the disease contributes to the development of anxiety-depressive and stressful symptoms that are factors make it difficult to recover.
OBJECTIVE
To study the presence, prevalence of signs of anxiety, depression, stress and their relationship with cardiovascular diseases among patients who have undergone confirmed COVID-19-associated pneumonia 3 months after discharge.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The collection of material was carried out as part of the study “One-year cardiovascular observation of patients after COVID-19-associated pneumonia”. The study included 103 patients aged 18 to 85 years (mean age 46.6±15.8 years) who had undergone confirmed COVID-19-associated pneumonia 3 months±2 weeks after discharge from the hospital including 51 (49.1%) woman. The GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scales were used to assess the signs of anxiety and depression, respectively. The minimum value of anxiety and depression was considered a total score of 5 points. Signs of stress were assessed using Stress Severity Scale 10; the minimum threshold value was 30 point.
RESULTS
Signs of anxiety and depression were found in approximately the same number of patients (29.1 and 27.2%, respectively), a combination of signs of anxiety and depression — in 18.4% of patients, stress — in 8.7% of patients. In terms of clinical characteristics, no significant differences were found between the groups of men and women. The prevalence of depression signs differed significantly depending on gender: significantly more often in women (p=0.023). The value of the median scores of the PHQ-9 questionnaire in the group of women is significantly higher than in the group of men (3.00 [1.00; 8.00] and 1.00 [0; 3.75], respectively; p=0.006). Logistic regression analysis showed that female gender increases the likelihood of depression by 2.83 times (95% CI 1.35-7.08). Despite the fact that there were no differences in gender in assessing the prevalence of anxiety (18.4 and 10.7% for men and women, respectively; p=0.072) when comparing the values of the median scores of the GAD-7 questionnaire in groups of men and women, the difference was statistically significant (1.00 [0; 4.00] and 3.00 [2.00; 7.00], respectively; p=0.001). Signs of stress among married people were less common compared with unmarried (2.9% versus 5.8%; p=0.037).
CONCLUSION
Signs of anxiety or depression are characteristic of more than a quarter of patients who have had proven COVID-19-associated pneumonia 3 months after discharge from the hospital. Women experience symptoms of depression 3 times more often than men do. Unmarried patients tend to experience more stress. It seems expedient to organize treatment and prophylactic work with patients who have undergone hospitalization for COVID-19-associated pneumonia using methods of psychological correction and psychotherapy.
