TY  - JOUR
AU  - Woodward, Sean F
AU  - Bari, Sumra
AU  - Vike, Nicole
AU  - Lalvani, Shamal
AU  - Stetsiv, Khrystyna
AU  - Kim, Byoung Woo
AU  - Stefanopoulos, Leandros
AU  - Maglaveras, Nicos
AU  - Breiter, Hans
AU  - Katsaggelos, Aggelos K
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/10/25
TI  - Anxiety, Post–COVID-19 Syndrome-Related Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in COVID-19 Survivors: Cross-sectional Study
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e36656
VL  - 6
IS  - 10
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - post–COVID-19 syndrome
KW  - suicidality
KW  - depression
KW  - Patient Health Questionnaire-9
KW  - PHQ-9
KW  - State Trait Anxiety Index
KW  - STAI
AB  - Background: Although the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on the general population have been well studied, studies of the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on infected individuals are relatively new. To date, depression, anxiety, and neurological symptoms associated with post–COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) have been observed in the months following COVID-19 recovery. Suicidal thoughts and behavior (STB) have also been preliminarily proposed as sequelae of COVID-19. Objective: We asked 3 questions. First, do participants reporting a history of COVID-19 diagnosis or a close relative having severe COVID-19 symptoms score higher on depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]) or state anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Index) screens than those who do not? Second, do participants reporting a COVID-19 diagnosis score higher on PCS-related PHQ-9 items? Third, do participants reporting a COVID-19 diagnosis or a close relative having severe COVID-19 symptoms score higher in STB before, during, or after the first year of the pandemic? Methods: This preliminary study analyzed responses to a COVID-19 and mental health questionnaire obtained from a US population sample, whose data were collected between February 2021 and March 2021. We used the Mann-Whitney U test to detect differences in the medians of the total PHQ-9 scores, PHQ-9 component scores, and several STB scores between participants claiming a past clinician diagnosis of COVID-19 and those denying one, as well as between participants claiming severe COVID-19 symptoms in a close relative and those denying them. Where significant differences existed, we created linear regression models to predict the scores based on COVID-19 response as well as demographics to identify potential confounding factors in the Mann-Whitney relationships. Moreover, for STB scores, which corresponded to 5 questions asking about 3 different time intervals (i.e., past 1 year or more, past 1 month to 1 year, and past 1 month), we developed repeated-measures ANOVAs to determine whether scores tended to vary over time. Results: We found greater total depression (PHQ-9) and state anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Index) scores in those with COVID-19 history than those without (Bonferroni P=.001 and Bonferroni P=.004) despite a similar history of diagnosed depression and anxiety. Greater scores were noted for a subset of depression symptoms (PHQ-9 items) that overlapped with the symptoms of PCS (all Bonferroni Ps<.05). Moreover, we found greater overall STB scores in those with COVID-19 history, equally in time windows preceding, during, and proceeding infection (all Bonferroni Ps<.05). Conclusions: We confirm previous studies linking depression and anxiety diagnoses to COVID-19 recovery. Moreover, our findings suggest that depression diagnoses associated with COVID-19 history relate to PCS symptoms, and that STB associated with COVID-19 in some cases precede infection. 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2022/10/e36656
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/36656
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35763757
DO  - 10.2196/36656
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/36656
ER  -