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. 2021 Mar 30:12:625973.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.625973. eCollection 2021.

Comparing Mental Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown and 6 Months After the Lockdown in Austria: A Longitudinal Study

Christoph Pieh  1 , Sanja Budimir  1   2 , Elke Humer  1 , Thomas Probst  1
Affiliations

Comparing Mental Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown and 6 Months After the Lockdown in Austria: A Longitudinal Study

Christoph Pieh et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has repeatedly been reported to impair mental health. This longitudinal study evaluated mental health at the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic (t1) and 6 months later (t2) in Austria. Indicators of mental health were depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), sleep quality (ISI), perceived stress (PSS-10), as well as quality of life (WHO-QOL BREF) and well-being (WHO-5). In total, N = 437 individuals participated in both surveys (52.9% women). The number of participants with clinically relevant depressive, anxiety, or insomnia symptoms did not differ statistically significantly between t1 and t2 (p ≥ 0.48). The prevalence of moderate or severe (clinically relevant) (1) depressive symptoms changed from 18.3% to 19.7% (p = 0.48), (2) anxiety symptoms from 16.5 to 15.6% (p = 0.67), and insomnia from 14.6 to 15.6% (p = 0.69) from t1 to t2. Bonferroni-corrected t-tests showed that the stress level (PSS-10) decreased, and well-being (WHO-5) increased. However, effect sizes do not seem to be clinically relevant (Cohen's d < 0.2). Results suggest that detrimental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic persisted several months after its outbreak and the end of the lockdown measures, respectively. Regarding well-being and stress, there is a slight trend toward improvement.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; insomnia; mental health; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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