1. Anxiety and depression symptoms after COVID-19 infection: results from the COVID Symptom Study app.
- Author
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Klaser K, Thompson EJ, Nguyen LH, Sudre CH, Antonelli M, Murray B, Canas LS, Molteni E, Graham MS, Kerfoot E, Chen L, Deng J, May A, Hu C, Guest A, Selvachandran S, Drew DA, Modat M, Chan AT, Wolf J, Spector TD, Hammers A, Duncan EL, Ourselin S, and Steves CJ
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Prevalence, SARS-CoV-2, Self Report, Young Adult, Anxiety epidemiology, COVID-19 psychology, Depression epidemiology, Mobile Applications
- Abstract
Background: Mental health issues have been reported after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, comparison to prevalence in uninfected individuals and contribution from common risk factors (eg, obesity and comorbidities) have not been examined. We identified how COVID-19 relates to mental health in the large community-based COVID Symptom Study., Methods: We assessed anxiety and depression symptoms using two validated questionnaires in 413148 individuals between February and April 2021; 26998 had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. We adjusted for physical and mental prepandemic comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), age and sex., Findings: Overall, 26.4% of participants met screening criteria for general anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression were slightly more prevalent in previously SARS-CoV-2-positive (30.4%) vs SARS-CoV-2-negative (26.1%) individuals. This association was small compared with the effect of an unhealthy BMI and the presence of other comorbidities, and not evident in younger participants (≤40 years). Findings were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses. Association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anxiety and depression was stronger in individuals with recent (<30 days) versus more distant (>120 days) infection, suggesting a short-term effect., Interpretation: A small association was identified between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anxiety and depression symptoms. The proportion meeting criteria for self-reported anxiety and depression disorders is only slightly higher than prepandemic., Competing Interests: Competing interests: AM, CH, AG, SS and JW are employees of Zoe Limited. TDS reports being a consultant for Zoe Limited during the conduct of the study. ATC previously served as an investigator on a separate study supported by Zoe Limited., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)
- Published
- 2021
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