Sharp increase in depression and anxiety among Brazilian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from the PAMPA cohort

Abstract

Objectives We aimed to compare the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms before and during the pandemic and identify factors associated with aggravated mental health symptoms. Study design Retrospective cohort study. Methods We identified the proportion of normal, mild, moderate, and severe symptoms of depression and anxiety before and during the social distancing restrictions in adults from southern Brazil. An online, self-administered questionnaire was delivered for residents within the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were examined by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results Most of the participants (n = 2314) aged between 31 and 59 years (54.2%), were women (76.6%), White (90.6%) with a university degree (66.6%). Moderate-to-severe symptoms of depression and anxiety were reported in 3.9% and 4.5% of participants, respectively, before COVID-19. During the pandemic (June–July, 2020), these proportions increased to 29.1% (6.6-fold increase) and 37.8% (7.4-fold increase), respectively. Higher rates of depressive and anxiety symptoms were observed among women, those aged 18–30 years, diagnosed with chronic disease and participants who had their income negatively affected by social restrictions. Remaining active or becoming physically active during social distancing restrictions reduced the probability of aggravated mental health disorders. Conclusions Depressive and anxiety symptoms had a 6.6- and 7.4-fold increase since the COVID-19 pandemic. Public policies such as physical activity promotion and strategies to reduce the economic strain caused by this pandemic are urgently needed to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on mental health.

Music Listening in Times of COVID-19 Outbreak: A Brazilian Study

“…Some of the psychological impacts of a pandemic might include the fear of getting sick or dying (Hall et al, 2008), the loss of a loved one (Hawryluck et al, 2005), the loss of income (Van Bortel et al, 2016) as well as decreasing satisfaction in life (Ammar et al, 2020) and well-being (Chtourou et al, 2020;Trabelsi et al, 2021) associated with the experience of social isolation. The lack of reliable and up-to-date information on the recovery cases and possible treatments can increase anxiety, stress (Wang et al, 2020), and depression symptoms (Hyland et al, 2020;Feter et al, 2021). Levels of uncertainty can be aggravated by inaccurate or misleading information about the outbreak in social media (Tang et al, 2018), a factor that has been recurrent in Brazil (Ribeiro and Leist, 2020).…”

“…Congruently, Goularte et al (2021), with a larger sample (N = 1996), identified that anxiety (81.9%) and depression (68%) were the most common psychological disorders found during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazilian adults. Furthermore, the pandemic can worsen the condition of patients with pre-existing mental health diseases (Ho et al, 2020;Feter et al, 2021). Given this scenario, studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of Fullana et al (2020) and recommended activities to prevent or mitigate the impacts of confinement on mental health, such as music listening (Kar et al, 2020).…”

“…For this reason, the main objective of this study was to explore changes in music listening during the period of social estrangement due to the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate the main factors for listening to music by participants with severe depression symptoms compared to subjects with no depression symptoms. The scenario of social isolation imposed by the pandemic of the new coronavirus asks questions about the potential effects of listening to daily music, which is relevant to be better understood in a population in which depressive symptoms seem to be highly prevalent (Campos et al, 2020b;Feter et al, 2021). Especially in developing countries like Brazil, the difficulties in offering mental health care to the population are known, so it is crucial to understand the effects of ecologically valid coping strategies, such as listening to music (de Souza and Machado-de-Sousa, 2017;Rzewuska et al, 2017;Fullana et al, 2020).…”

Impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on mental health status and associated factors among general population: a cross-sectional study from Pakistan

“…Numerous studies have shown that outbreaks of diseases, such as COVID-19, can have a severe impact on the psychological health of people, and they may experience fear of contracting the disease, stigma, helplessness and fear of dying (Pierce et al, 2020;Rajkumar, 2020). A study conducted during the recent COVID-19 pandemic found a 6to 7-fold increase in symptoms of depression and anxiety in adults (Feter et al, 2020). A recently published global review found female gender, unemployment, student status and people with chronic/psychiatric disorders as risk factors that could deteriorate the mental health of people during COVID-19 outbreak (Xiong et al, 2020).…”

Modern foreign studies of depressive disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Описание исследования, нацеленного на выяснение особенностей динамики депрессии и тревоги среди взрослых бразильцев во время пандемии COVID-19, приводят Фетер Н. (Feter N.) с коллегами [19]. Это первое исследование, в ходе которого изучалось влияние пандемии COVID-19 на проблемы психического здоровья в Бразилии.…”