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. 2020 Dec 7;35(47):e409.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e409.

Psychological Consequences of Survivors of COVID-19 Pneumonia 1 Month after Discharge

Hye Yoon Park  1 , Jongtak Jung  2 , Hye Youn Park  3 , So Hee Lee  4 , Eu Suk Kim  2 , Hong Bin Kim  2 , Kyoung Ho Song  5
Affiliations

Psychological Consequences of Survivors of COVID-19 Pneumonia 1 Month after Discharge

Hye Yoon Park et al. J Korean Med Sci. .

Abstract

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread worldwide, there are growing concerns about patients' mental health. We investigated psychological problems in COVID-19 patients assessed with self-reported questionnaires including the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, and Impact of Event Scale-Revised Korean version. Ten patients who recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia without complications underwent self-reported questionnaires about 1 month after discharge. Of them, 10% reported depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while 50% had depression during the treatment. Perceived stigma and history of psychiatric treatment affected PTSD symptom severity, consistent with previous emerging infectious diseases. Survivors also reported that they were concerned about infecting others and being discriminated and that they chose to avoid others after discharge. Further support and strategy to minimize their psychosocial difficulties after discharge should be considered.

Keywords: COVID-19; Depression; PTSD; Pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2; Survivor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

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