Do psychiatric patients experience more psychiatric symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown? A case-control study with service and research implications for immunopsychiatry - PubMed (original) (raw)

doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.069. Epub 2020 Apr 27.

Wanqiu Tan 2, Li Jiang 1, Ling Zhang 1, Xinling Zhao 1, Yiran Zou 1, Yirong Hu 1, Xi Luo 1, Xiaojiang Jiang 3, Roger S McIntyre 4, Bach Tran 5, Jiaqian Sun 6, Zhisong Zhang 7, Roger Ho 8, Cyrus Ho 9, Wilson Tam 10

Affiliations

Do psychiatric patients experience more psychiatric symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown? A case-control study with service and research implications for immunopsychiatry

Fengyi Hao et al. Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

This study aimed to assess and compare the immediate stress and psychological impact experienced by people with and without psychiatric illnesses during the peak of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic with strict lockdown measures. Seventy-six psychiatric patients and 109 healthy control subjects were recruited from Chongqing, China and completed a survey on demographic data, physical symptoms during the past 14 days and a range of psychiatric symptoms using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). IES-R measures PTSD symptoms in survivorship after an event. DASS-21 is based on tripartite model of psychopathology that comprise a general distress construct with distinct characteristics. The mean IES-R, DASS-21 anxiety, depression and stress subscale and ISI scores were higher in psychiatric patients than healthy controls (p < 0.001). Serious worries about their physical health, anger and impulsivity and intense suicidal ideation were significantly higher in psychiatric patients than healthy controls (p < 0.05). More than one-third of psychiatric patients might fulfil the diagnostic criteria post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). More than one-quarter of psychiatric patients suffered from moderately severe to severe insomnia. Respondents who reported no change, poor or worse physical health status and had a psychiatric illness were significantly more likely to have higher mean IES-R, DASS depression, anxiety and stress subscale scores and ISI scores (p < 0.05). This study confirms the severity of negative psychological impact on psychiatric patients during the COVID-19 epidemic with strict lockdown measures. Understanding the psychological impact on psychiatric patients during the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to provide insight into how to develop a new immunopsychiatry service. Further research is required to compare pro-inflammatory cytokines between psychiatric patients and healthy controls during the pandemic.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Depression; Epidemic; Immunopsychiatry; Insomnia; Lockdown; PTSD; Pandemic; Psychiatric illness; Stress; Suicide.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Comment in

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Bastien C.H., Vallières A., Morin C.M. Validation of the Insomnia Severity Index as an outcome measure for insomnia research. Sleep Med. 2001;2(4):297–307. doi: 10.1016/s1389-9457(00)00065-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chew N., Lee L.G., Tan B.Y., Jing M., Goh Y., Ngiam N., Yeo L., Ahmad A., Khan F.A., Shanmugam G., Sharma A., Komalkumar R.N., Meenakshi R.V., Shah K., Patel B., Chan B.P.L., Sunny S., Chandra B., Ong J., Paliwal P., Wong L., Sagayanathan R., Chen J.T., Ng A., Teoh H.L., Dr Tsivgoulis G., Ho C.S.H., Ho R., Sharma V. A multinational, multicentre study on the psychological outcomes and associated physical symptoms amongst healthcare workers during COVID-19 outbreak. Brain Behav. Immun. 2020 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chua S.E., Cheung V., McAlonan G.M., Cheung C., Wong J.W.S., Cheung E.P.T., Tsang K.W.T. Stress and psychological impact on SARS patients during the outbreak. Canad. J. Psychiatry/Rev. Canad. Psychiatr. 2004;49(6):385–390. doi: 10.1177/070674370404900607. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Colizzi M., Bortoletto R., Silvestri M., Mondini F., Puttini E., Cainelli C., Zoccante L. Medically unexplained symptoms in the times of Covid-19 pandemic: a case-report. Brain Behav Immun. Health. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100073. 100073. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gautam R., Sharma M. 2019-nCoV Pandemic: a disruptive and stressful atmosphere for Indian academic fraternity. Brain Behav. Immun. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.025. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources