The prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, and related factors among COVID-19 patients in Kurdistan Province, Iran (2020)

• Published in: WHO South-East Asia journal of public health 2021-01, Vol.10 (1), p.18-24
• Main Authors: Servatyari, Karo, Mohammadzadeh, Soleiman, Rahmani, Khaled, Yazdanpanah, Hero, Abdi, Mohammad, Yousefi, Fayegh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anxiety - epidemiology; COVID-19; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression - epidemiology; Female; Humans; Iran - epidemiology; Prevalence; SARS-CoV-2; Stress, Psychological - epidemiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2224-3151; 2304-5272
• DOI: 10.4103/WHO-SEAJPH.WHO-SEAJPH_29_21

The emergence of mental health problems during a pandemic is a major concern of healthcare systems. This cross-sectional, analytical study was performed on 1072 patients with COVID-19 disease without pre-existing mental disorders in Kurdistan Province in 2020 to obtain the frequency of depression, anxiety, and stress using a valid, standard electronic depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 questionnaire. Data analyses were conducted in SPSS Version 23 using logistic regression modeling. The mean age of the participants was 31.91 ± 10.28 years and 543 subjects (50.7%) were female. The prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression was 51.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 48.7-54.7), 64.3% (95% CI: 61.3-67.1), 61.4% (95% CI: 58.4-64.2), respectively. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress was higher in the employees and retirees compared to the unemployed and homemakers (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the frequency of stress (odds ratio [OR]: 1.36, P = 0.01) and depression (OR: 1.3, P = 0.04) in patients who undertook severe protection measures was significantly higher than those who used lower. The patients with COVID-19 experienced high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Therefore, it is essential to provide psychological and psychiatric services to these patients electronically or face to face at health centers.