A longitudinal study on new onset anxiety among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 epidemic

Objective·To investigate the occurrence of new onset anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 epidemic, and analyze the influencing factors.Methods·Based on Chengdu Positive Child Development (CPCD) cohort, a total of 5 566 children and adolescents from five primary and secondary schools in Chengdu were enrolled. Two longitudinal study cohorts of new anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents were established, and two rounds of survey were conducted. The first round of survey (baseline survey) was conducted from December 2019 to January 2020, and the general demographic characteristics of the cohort members were collected through the Student Questionnaire for the Study on Promoting Positive Growth of Children and Adolescents. The second round of survey (follow-up survey) was conducted from February to July 2020 to collect additional information on the cohorts' infection history of COVID-19, and whether their eating, learning, and social and recreational activities were affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) was used to evaluate the new onset anxiety symptoms of all subjects. The multivariate Logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of new onset anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents.Results·The results of SCARED assessment showed that the incidence of new onset anxiety symptoms among children and adolescents in Chengdu during the COVID-19 epidemic was 13.47%. In the longitudinal study cohort of new onset anxiety in children,the incidence was 11.91%, and in the longitudinal study cohort of new onset anxiety in adolescents, the incidence was 14.25%. The results of chi square test showed that there were statistically significant differences in the incidence of new onset anxiety symptoms among children in terms of age, whether they or their family members were infected with COVID-19, and whether their eating, learning and social activities were affected (all P