Comparison between emerging adults and adults in terms of contamination fear, post-COVID-19 PTSD and psychiatric comorbidity

Abstract

The present study compared Chinese emerging adults and adults regarding the association between contamination fear, posttraumatic stress disorder post-COVID-19 and psychiatric comorbidity after controlling for demographic and trauma exposure variables. 1089 Chinese civilians (M = 382; F = 707) with a mean age of 26 years (M = 26.36, SD = 8.58) were recruited from different provinces in China via an online survey posted on mainstream Chinese social networking platforms. They completed a demographic page with questions on trauma exposure, the Vancouver Obsessional Compulsive Inventory, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 and the General Health Questionnaire-28. Results showed that 12.7%, 68.7% and 18.6% met criteria for full, partial and no PTSD, respectively. Emerging adults reported significantly lower levels of symptoms of re-experiencing, avoidance, somatic problems, anxiety and fear of contamination than adults. In both emerging adults and adults, contamination fear was correlated with PTSD and psychiatric comorbidity. High educational attainment was significantly correlated with psychiatric comorbidity in emerging adults, but with PTSD in adults. Length of quarantine was correlated with psychiatric comorbidity only in adults. In conclusion, both emerging adults and adults developed varying levels of contamination fear, posttraumatic stress and general psychological symptoms following the outbreak of COVID-19. Emerging adults were more resilient than adults in coping with distress.

Impact of Long-COVID on Health Care Burden: A Case Control Study

“…The most frequent in adults were those belonging to the Neuropsychiatric sphere, although Musculoskeletal, Respiratory, Digestive and Dermatologic diagnoses were also present, the more frequent diagnostics being: functional dyspepsia, dizziness and giddiness, unspecified abdominal pain, weakness, headache, anxiety, and low back pain. In general, the most frequent diagnostics coincided with those described in the literature [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] although in the controls the prevalence was also high in the present study. In fact, upper and lower Digestive tract symptoms have similarities with postinfectious functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome [28], as well as with mental health symptoms [31,35,36].…”

“…In general, the most frequent diagnostics coincided with those described in the literature [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] although in the controls the prevalence was also high in the present study. In fact, upper and lower Digestive tract symptoms have similarities with postinfectious functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome [28], as well as with mental health symptoms [31,35,36]. In contrast, the most prevalent by far in patients relative to controls were anosmia, depressed mood, weakness, fatigue, hair loss, unspecified dyspnea and myalgia [29,32,37].…”