Mental disorders in hospital COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Background. The peculiarity of the COVID-19 pandemic is not only that it causes severe somatic disorders, the main of which is acute viral pneumonia, but also psychological stress and symptoms of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and sleep disorders. As well as other infectious diseases, COVID-19 also causes panic in society and psychological distress. Objective. To evaluate mental disorders in hospital patients in the acute phase of COVID-19. Materials and methods. The study group included 90 patients with moderate to severe viral pneumonia COVID-19. The average age of the subjects was 58.64 ± 11.39 years. 32% of respondents (29 people) had secondary education, 61% of respondents (61 people) had higher education. 51% of the subjects were male (46 people), 49% - female (44 people). As part of psychiatric screening, PHQ-9 depression and GAD-7 anxiety questionnaires were used to study psychopathological symptoms on admission to the hospital. Results. The study found that symptoms of anxiety and depression were common in inpatients with COVID-19. 56% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia had depressive symptoms of varying severity (from mild to extremely severe) and 64% had anxiety symptoms (from mild to severe). Depression was more common than anxiety in patients after COVID-19. In addition, there was a clear trend toward a much more severe course of depressive and, to a lesser extent, anxiety in patients over 65 years of age, making elderly patients at risk for severe emotional states after COVID-19. Therefore, this group needs increased attention from medical staff during the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.