Is the psychological well-being of a population associated with COVID-19 related survival?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Immunological mind-body research suggests mental health may also be important in the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the potential influence of mental health as a protective factor for COVID-19 related mortality in the general population. The second goal was to examine this among populations of countries most affected by COVID-19 related mortality. METHODS Data sources were the Global Burden of Disease report 2017 and publicly reported situational reports of COVID-19. We described variables; calculated the spearman′s correlation coefficient, calculated the percentage of the variability of the data that is explained by the association. We explored inter-relationships among other variables: aged 70 or older, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. A correlation matrix with plotted scatter matrix diagrams was produced. RESULTS Across 181 countries, the mean total COVID-19 related survivors per million was 999,949 (sd=125), median=999,993. The variable had a lognormal distribution; the mean mentally healthy per 100,000 was 85,411 (sd=1,871), median=85,634. The test of normality resulted in p-value < 0.001. Correlation of mentally healthy per 100,0000 and totals of COVID-19 related survivors was 𝝆s=0.29 (n=181, 95% CI 0.16-0.43). The variance explained by the relation between mental healthy and totals of COVID-19 related survivors was 8.4% (2.6-18.5%). Across countries most affected by COVID-19 related mortality 𝝆s=0.49 (n=45, 0.28-0.70), explaining 24.2% (7.7-49.3%). CONCLUSION A weak association was found between the psychological well-being of a population and COVID-19 related survival. This relationship explained between 2.6 and 18.5% of COVID-19 related survival. For countries most affected by COVID-19 related death, this association was moderate and explained between 7.7 and 49.3%. Confirmation of these important observational findings is needed with future individual patient data research.

Is population anxiety associated with COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths? A study protocol

“…According to a study in the UK, psychological factors such as stress and an existing mental illness increase the risk of covid-19 hospitalization (14) . In the general world population, there is a positive relationship between the psychological well-being for the COVID-19 pandemic and the chance of COVID-19 related survival (15) . This exploratory study aims to determine to what extent the anxiety in the population is related to the number of covid-19 related hospitalizations and deaths.…”