Health-related quality of life of the Vietnamese during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background Vietnam applied strict quarantine measures to mitigate the rapid transmission of the SARS-COV-2 virus. Central questions were how the COVID-19 pandemic affected health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of the Vietnamese general population, and whether there is any difference in HRQOL among people under different quarantine conditions. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted during 1 April– 30 May 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak in Vietnam. Data was collected via an online survey using Google survey tool. A convenient sampling approach was employed, with participants being sorted into three groups: people who were in government quarantine facilities; people who were under self-isolation at their own place; and the general population who did not need enforced quarantine. The Vietnamese EQ-5D-5L instrument was used to measure HRQOL. Differences in HRQOL among people of isolation groups and their socio-demographic characteristics were statistically tested. Results A final sample was made of 406 people, including 10 persons from government quarantine facilities, 57 persons under self-isolation at private places, and the rest were the general population. The mean EQ-VAS was reported the highest at 90.5 (SD: 7.98) among people in government quarantine facilities, followed by 88.54 (SD: 12.24) among general population and 86.54 (SD 13.69) among people in self-isolation group. The EQ-5D-5L value was reported the highest among general population at 0.95 (SD: 0.07), followed by 0.94 (SD: 0.12) among people in government quarantine facilities, and 0.93 (SD: 0.13) among people who did self-isolation. Overall, most people, at any level, reported having problems with anxiety and/or depression in all groups. Conclusion While there have been some worries and debates on implementing strict quarantine measures can hinder people’s quality of life, Vietnam showed an opposite tendency in people’s HRQOL even under the highest level of enforcement in the prevention and control of COVID-19.

Evaluation of Health-related Quality of Life in Iranian General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A cross sectional study

“…It is therefore obvious that people with a higher level of income are less concerned about these items, and therefore they are expected to have higher utility levels. However, other studies conducted in the same period of Covid-19 did not report a signi cant relationship between income level and utility score [5,29]. Like our study, other studies showed that there is a signi cant inverse relationship between the level of anxiety about becoming infected by Covid-19 and the utility score [5].…”

“…This result is almost similar to the score (0.79) of the general population of Iran (using the Cross Walk method) before the Covid-19 pandemic [22]. And it was lower than the score reported in studies conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic in South Australia of 0.91 [23], Germany 0.92 [24], Poland 0.89 [25], Uruguay 0.95 [26], Italy 0.92 [27], and studies conducted during the Covid-19 epidemic in China 0.949 [5], Portugal 0.86 [28] and Vietnam 0.95 [29]. The difference in the value set generated by each country (due to differences in demographic characteristics as well as the type of calculation method) and differences in age and gender combination, and level of education, income, and type of study design can be reasons for differences in the utility scores in different studies.…”

“…However, Ping et al [5] and Vu et al [29] did not nd a signi cant relationship between utility score and gender. The results of our analysis showed that unlike previous studies [5,29] and like other studies [30], education level and utility score have a direct and signi cant relationship. People with higher education are more likely to have access to a better environment (for example, in terms of pollution, access to information, and skills) and more nancial resources.…”

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical research activities: Survey of study participants and health care workers participating in a hypertension trial in Vietnam

“…Several studies have been recently published examining the impact of COVID-19 and public health control measures on the general Vietnamese population. These observational studies showed that the pandemic has had a significant impact on the overall well-being and mental health status of this population [12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…Several recently published studies have examined the impact of COVID-19 and public health containment measures in the Vietnamese population [12][13][14][15][16]. To our knowledge, no study has examined the impact of COVID-19 on patient's needs, health care seeking behaviors,…”