Psychosocial Factors Associated with Depression and Anxiety During COVID-19 Pandemic Among Outpatients with Depression

Objective: Long-term social distancing, isolation, and economic fallout may be significant psychological triggers during pandemic, such as COVID-19, especially for those with underlying psychiatric illness. This study was conducted to address the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic among patients with depression based at a teaching hospital in Malaysia.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional online study among patients with depression from University Malaya Medical Centre, using Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale-Self Assessment (MADRS-S), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP), and Social Media Addiction during COVID-19 Pandemic (SMACOP).

Results: One hundred seventy-eight patients participated in this study. The mean total of the KAP score is 12.65 (SD = 2.65), with knowledge section (mean = 7.34 [SD = 2.13]), attitudes section (mean = 2.63 [SD = 0.58]), and practices section (mean = 2.69 [SD = 1.00]). They scored moderately on the MADRS-S (mean = 21.03 [SD = 4.62]) and ISI (mean = 20.25 [SD = 4.62]) but had high GAD-7 scores (mean = 16.8 (SD = 6.27]). From the multiple logistic regression analyses, depressive symptoms of greater severity (MADRS-S 18–34) are significantly associated with more severe insomnia (P < .001, adjusted OR = 9.101, 95% CI: 3.613-22.924). Furthermore, the high anxiety level is associated with the younger age group (P = .029, Adjusted OR = 2.274, 95% CI: 1.090-4.746), greater severity of insomnia (P < .001, Adjusted OR = 22.9, 95% CI: 6.145-85.343), and higher risk of COVID-19 related social media addiction (P = .011, adjusted OR = 2.637, 95% CI: 1.253-5.550).

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the high levels of sleep disturbances and anxiety symptoms experienced by outpatients with depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are closely linked to the younger age group and at-risk social media addiction related to COVID-19.

Cite this article as: Zulkifli NA, Chong Guan N, Zainal NZ, Ling TS. Psychosocial factors associated with depression and anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic among outpatients with depression. Alpha Psychiatry. 2021;22(4):185-193.