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. 2021 Apr:143:110399.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2021.110399. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

Trajectories of post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and depression in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A one-month follow-up

Noam Matalon  1 , Shirel Dorman-Ilan  2 , Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon  3 , Nimrod Hertz-Palmor  4 , Shachar Shani  1 , Dana Basel  4 , Raz Gross  5 , Wendy Chen  6 , Ayelet Abramovich  6 , Arnon Afek  7 , Amitai Ziv  7 , Yitshak Kreiss  7 , Itai M Pessach  7 , Doron Gothelf  8
Affiliations

Trajectories of post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and depression in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A one-month follow-up

Noam Matalon et al. J Psychosom Res. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: Little is known about the mental health outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The aims of the study were: (1) to examine the trajectories of anxiety, depression, and pandemic-related stress factors (PRSF) of COVID-19 hospitalized patients one-month following hospitalization; (2) to assess the presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) a month after hospitalization; (3) to identify baseline risk and protective factors that would predict PTSS one month after hospitalization.

Methods: We contacted hospitalized COVID-19 patients (n = 64) by phone, at three time-points: during the first days after admission to the hospital (T1); after ~two weeks from the beginning of hospitalization (T2), and one month after hospitalization (T3). At all time-points we assessed the levels of anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as PRSF. At T3, PTSS were assessed.

Results: The levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms decreased one-month following hospitalization. Moreover, higher levels of anxiety (standardized β = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.81-1.49, p < 0.001) and depression (β = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.63-1.31 p < 0.001) symptoms during the first week of hospitalization, feeling socially disconnected (β = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.37-0.81 p < 0.001) and experiencing a longer hospitalization period (β = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.03-0.47 p = 0.026) predicted higher PTSS scores a month post-hospitalization.

Conclusions: We identified early hospitalization risk factors for the development of PTSS one month after hospitalization that should be targeted to reduce the risk for PTSS.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Depression; Mental health; PTSS; Patients.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Patients' (N = 64) longitudinal trajectory of PROMIS anxiety, depression and pandemic-related stress factors (PRSF) mean scores across the three time points. Results are presented as means and SEs. * < 0.05; ** = 0.01; *** < 0.001. Refers to the main analyses. ^ < 0.05; ^^ ≤ 0.004; ^^^ < 0.001. Refers to post-hoc analyses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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