Anxiety, Depression, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Patients Treated With Immunosuppressive Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background & Aims Despite the significant impact of immunosuppressive drugs on controlling and treating certain diseases, their continued use can predispose patients to infectious diseases such as COVID-19, leading to anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. This study aims to determine the levels of anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms in patients treated with immunosuppressive drug during the COVID-19 pandemic.Materials & Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 330 individuals treated with immunosuppressive drug such as those with autoimmune diseases, cancer, and transplant recipients in Firoozgar and Rasoul-e-Akram hospitals in Tehran, Iran, from July to December 2022. They were selected using a continuous sampling method. The instruments were a demographic/diseaserelated questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Data analysis was done in SPSS software, version 16 using descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation) and inferential (Independent t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation test) statistics. Results In this study, the mean age of participants was 51.35±12.95 years, and 148 (44.8%) were female. The majority of the patients had normal levels of anxiety and depression (91.2% and 92.1%, respectively). The mean total IES-R score was 27.71 out of 88. The anxiety and depression scores did not have a significant relationship with any demographic, disease-related, and COVID-related characteristics of the study participants, but a significant correlation between income level and total score of IES-R was observed (P=0.043). Conclusion The individuals receiving immunosuppressive drugs in this study, despite being susceptible to COVID-19, had normal levels of anxiety and depression and obtained lower than average score in the IES-R. This finding can reduce the concerns about the mental health of these patients. Further studies using other questionnaires or a qualitative study on the expriences of these patients during the COVID-19 pandemic are recommended.