Covid-19 and anxiety: An Analytical Study in hospitalized patients of a Tertiary care hospital in North India

Resumen

Background: COVID-19 is associated with anxiety. At present there is scarcity of data on anxiety in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Aims: The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence and severity of anxiety between   hospitalized COVID-19 patients with age and gender matched controls admitted in medical wards.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study of hospitalized moderate to severe COVID-19 patients conducted over a period of two months (October to November 2020). Total of 103 patients were enrolled and were compared with age and gender matched controls in 1:1 ratio. Anxiety was assessed by DASS-21 questionnaire.

Results: The majority of patients in the COVID-19 cohort 55.4% were > 60 years of age. The most common comorbidity in the COVID-19 cohort was hypertension in 51.5% followed by Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in 31.1%. DASS-21 score ≥ 20 indicating extremely severe grade of anxiety was present in 39.8% of COVID-19 cohort compared to 3.9 % in the control group with p-value <0.001. On multivariate linear regression analysis, age >60 years and female gender significantly predicted anxiety in COVID-19 patients.

Conclusion: Among hospitalized patients, there is a high prevalence of severe anxiety in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients compared to non-COVID patients admitted in the same hospital. Anxiety is more prevalent in females and elderly cohort of COVID-19. This highlights the importance of screening all hospitalized COVID-19 patients for psychiatric disorders especially anxiety and the need to address it as early as possible and follow up for long term mental health sequel.