Prevalence of depression and anxiety among general population in Pakistan during COVID-19 lockdown: An online-surveyShow others and affiliations
2022 (English)In: Current Psychology, ISSN 1046-1310, E-ISSN 1936-4733Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]
The present study's aim is to find the prevalence of two of the common indicators of mental health - depression and anxiety – and any correlation with socio-demographic indicators in the Pakistani population during the lockdown from 5 May to 25 July 2020. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online questionnaire sent to volunteer participants. A total of 1047 participants over 18 were recruited through convenience sampling. The survey targeted depression and anxiety levels, which were measured using a 14 item self-reporting Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Out of the total sample population (N=354), 39.9% suffered from depression and 57.7% from anxiety. Binary logistical regressions indicated significant predictive associations of gender (OR=1.410), education (OR=9.311), residence (OR=0.370), household income (OR=0.579), previous psychiatric problems (OR=1.671), and previous psychiatric medication (OR=2.641). These were the key factors e associated with a significant increase in depression. Increases in anxiety levels were significantly linked to gender (OR=2.427), residence (OR=0.619), previous psychiatric problems (OR=1.166), and previous psychiatric medication (OR=7.330). These results suggest depression and anxiety were prevalent among the Pakistani population during the lockdown. Along with other measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, citizens' mental health needs the Pakistani government's urgent attention as well as that of mental health experts. Further large-scale, such as healthcare practitioners, should be undertaken to identify other mental health indicators that need to be monitored.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer , 2022.
Keywords [en]
Anxiety, COVID-19, Cross-sectional design, Depression, Gender, General population, Mental health
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-55967DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-02815-7ISI: 000752823900004PubMedID: 35194356Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85124377421Local ID: HOA;intsam;798130OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-55967DiVA, id: diva2:1641608
2022-03-022022-03-022022-06-23