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Escalating progression of mental health disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from a nationwide survey
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 3, p e0248916 (2021), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2021.
-
Abstract
- Since the first nationwide movement control order was implemented on 18 March 2020 in Malaysia to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, to what extent the uncertainty and continuous containment measures have imposed psychological burdens on the population is unknown. This study aimed to measure the level of mental health of the Malaysian public approximately 2 months after the pandemic’s onset. Between 12 May and 5 September 2020, an anonymous online survey was conducted. The target group included all members of the Malaysian population aged 18 years and above. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to assess mental health. There were increased depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms throughout the study period, with the depression rates showing the greatest increase. During the end of the data collection period (4 August–5 September 2020), there were high percentages of reported depressive (59.2%) and anxiety (55.1%) symptoms compared with stress (30.6%) symptoms. Perceived health status was the strongest significant predictor for depressive and anxiety symptoms. Individuals with a poorer health perception had higher odds of developing depression (odds ratio [OR] = 5.68; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.81–8.47) and anxiety (OR = 3.50; 95%CI 2.37–5.17) compared with those with a higher health perception. By demographics, young people–particularly students, females and people with poor financial conditions–were more vulnerable to mental health symptoms. These findings provide an urgent call for increased attention to detect and provide intervention strategies to combat the increasing rate of mental health problems in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
- Subjects :
- Male
Viral Diseases
Epidemiology
Economics
Cross-sectional study
Emotions
Social Sciences
Anxiety
Geographical Locations
Medical Conditions
0302 clinical medicine
Surveys and Questionnaires
Pandemic
Odds Ratio
Medicine and Health Sciences
Psychology
Medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
Young adult
Depression (differential diagnoses)
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Depression
Middle Aged
Anxiety Disorders
Infectious Diseases
Female
medicine.symptom
Research Article
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Asia
Adolescent
Science
Population
Psychological Stress
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
Mental Health and Psychiatry
Humans
education
Psychiatry
Pandemics
Depressive Disorder
SARS-CoV-2
Mood Disorders
business.industry
Malaysia
COVID-19
Biology and Life Sciences
Covid 19
Odds ratio
Mental health
Cross-Sectional Studies
Multivariate Analysis
People and Places
business
Stress, Psychological
Finance
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....8a9b59221d79cf5ec4f999b5da0995af