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Increase in prevalence of current mental disorders in the context of COVID-19: analysis of repeated nationwide cross-sectional surveys

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2020

P. Winkler*
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, David Goldberg Centre, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
T. Formanek
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic
K. Mlada
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Husova 3, 301 00 Pilsen, Czech Republic
A. Kagstrom
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic
Z. Mohrova
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic
P. Mohr
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Ruska 87, 100 00 Prague, Czech Republic
L. Csemy
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic
*
Author for correspondence: Petr Winkler, E-mail: petr.winkler@nudz.cz
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Abstract

Aims

The United Nations warned of COVID-19-related mental health crisis; however, it is unknown whether there is an increase in the prevalence of mental disorders as existing studies lack a reliable baseline analysis or they did not use a diagnostic measure. We aimed to analyse trends in the prevalence of mental disorders prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We analysed data from repeated cross-sectional surveys on a representative sample of non-institutionalised Czech adults (18+ years) from both November 2017 (n = 3306; 54% females) and May 2020 (n = 3021; 52% females). We used Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) as the main screening instrument. We calculated descriptive statistics and compared the prevalence of current mood and anxiety disorders, suicide risk and alcohol-related disorders at baseline and right after the first peak of COVID-19 when related lockdown was still in place in CZ. In addition, using logistic regression, we assessed the association between COVID-19-related worries and the presence of mental disorders.

Results

The prevalence of those experiencing symptoms of at least one current mental disorder rose from a baseline of 20.02 (95% CI = 18.64; 21.39) in 2017 to 29.63 (95% CI = 27.9; 31.37) in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of both major depressive disorder (3.96, 95% CI = 3.28; 4.62 v. 11.77, 95% CI = 10.56; 12.99); and suicide risk (3.88, 95% CI = 3.21; 4.52 v. 11.88, 95% CI = 10.64; 13.07) tripled and current anxiety disorders almost doubled (7.79, 95% CI = 6.87; 8.7 v. 12.84, 95% CI = 11.6; 14.05). The prevalence of alcohol use disorders in 2020 was approximately the same as in 2017 (10.84, 95% CI = 9.78; 11.89 v. 9.88, 95% CI = 8.74; 10.98); however, there was a significant increase in weekly binge drinking behaviours (4.07% v. 6.39%). Strong worries about both, health or economic consequences of COVID-19, were associated with an increased odds of having a mental disorder (1.63, 95% CI = 1.4; 1.89 and 1.42, 95% CI = 1.23; 1.63 respectively).

Conclusions

This study provides evidence matching concerns that COVID-19-related mental health problems pose a major threat to populations, particularly considering the barriers in service provision posed during lockdown. This finding emphasises an urgent need to scale up mental health promotion and prevention globally.

Information

Type
Original Article
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
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Table 1. Description of the 2017 and 2020 sample (unweighted)

Figure 1

Fig. 1. Prevalence of mental disorders among non-institutionalized adults in the Czech Republic: November 2017 and May 2020.

Figure 2

Table 2. Prevalence of mental disorders per study years

Figure 3

Table 3. Logit regression models: an association of COVID-19-related covariates and the presence of mental disorders

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