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Prevalence of dysfunctional breathing associated with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

J. Koniukhovskaia ,
O. Mitina ,
O. Stepanova ,
E. Dorokhov  and
E. Pervichko
J. Koniukhovskaia*
Affiliation:
Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
O. Mitina
Affiliation:
Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
O. Stepanova
Affiliation:
Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
E. Dorokhov
Affiliation:
Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
E. Pervichko
Affiliation:
Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a situation of increased concern due to health threats and increased uncertainty. The risk of infection with the respiratory system coronavirus attracts increased attention to respiratory sensations. These two aspects can be beneficial grounds for the dysfunctional breathing-changes emergence in the breathing pattern that does not correspond to physiological needs.

Objectives

To study the prevalence of dysfunctional breathing associated with anxiety during the COVID – 19 pandemic in Russia.

Methods

The author’s socio-demographic questionnaire, the Naimigen Questionnaire, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used. The survey was conducted online in May 2020. There were 582 participants (496 women&86 men) between the ages of 18 and 64.

Results

The severity of dysfunctional breathing significantly correlated with the height of personal anxiety (r=0.488,p=0.000). Women are more likely than men to have dysfunctional breathing (18.1±9.6vs11.6 ±7.9;p=0.000) and have more expressed personal anxiety(26±10.5vs19.8 ±9.7; p=0.000). The age of respondents has an inverse correlation with personal anxiety (r=-0.147,p= 0.000), but not with dysfunctional breathing. Respondents who consider coronavirus to be a very dangerous trend to have dysfunctional breathing more than those who believe that the danger of coronavirus is exaggerated(18.1±10vs15.9 ±8.9;p=0.052).

Conclusions

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of dysfunctional breathing increases in a wide range of the population, especially among women. Since one of the dysfunctional breathing symptoms is a feeling of “difficulty inhaling”, anxious people may interpret this as shortness of breath in COVID-19, which may motivate them to seek medical help, thereby artificially increasing the burden on the health system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conflict of interest

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S309
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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