Abdul Salaam Mohammed1, Ganga Raju Godasi2, Raj Kiran Donthu3, Ravi Shankar Pasam4, Anand Acharya5, Pratap Surya Sankar Reddy Tamanampudi6
BACKGROUND
Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is a novel coronavirus, which became a
pandemic within few days. Being a novel virus, the disease pathophysiology and
psychological impact are not completely known. Studies conducted till now
concentrated on the initial phases of the pandemic. Our study tries to understand
the psychological impact during the late phase of the pandemic.
METHODS
This is a cross sectional study involving Covid-19 hospitalised patients and the
general public. Sociodemographic details were collected, and subjects were
administered for depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS). A total of 301
participants were included. Data was analysed using R language. The scores from
both the groups were compared to obtain the results.
RESULTS
Among the Covid-19 patients, almost 90 % have reported normal levels in
depression and stress and 67 % in anxiety with mean values of 2.71, 5.91 and
4.74 respectively. Among the general public, more than 80 % have reported
normal levels in depression, anxiety, and stress with mean scores of 5.58, 3.62
and 7.32 respectively. On comparing the raw scores of the two groups, significant
differences in depression (P = 0 .000) anxiety (P = 0 .004) and stress (P = 0 .004)
were noted.
CONCLUSIONS
Psychological impact during late phase of Covid-19 pandemic appears to be mild
among both hospitalised patients and general public. Future studies should focus
on long term follow up and should also include severe affected cases.
