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. 2022 Jul:313:114596.
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114596. Epub 2022 May 4.

Fear of Covid-19 and health-related outcomes: results from two Brazilian population-based studies

Fernanda Oliveira Meller  1 , Antônio Augusto Schäfer  2 , Micaela Rabelo Quadra  3 , Lauro Miranda Demenech  4 , Simone Dos Santos Paludo  5 , Priscila Arruda da Silva  6 , Lucas Neiva-Silva  7 , Samuel C Dumith  8
Affiliations

Fear of Covid-19 and health-related outcomes: results from two Brazilian population-based studies

Fernanda Oliveira Meller et al. Psychiatry Res. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Fear is a reaction that can influence multiple aspects of health and life. During the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been serious pathophysiological, social, behavioral and mental consequences that can be related to fear. This study aimed to assess the fear of Covid-19 and its association with sociodemographic, behavioral and health variables. Data were gathered from two cross-sectional population-based studies conducted in 2020 with adults from two cities from Southern Brazil. The Fear of Covid-19 scale was used to evaluate fear of Covid. Exposure variables were socioeconomic, demographic, health and pandemic-related factors. Adjusted Poisson regression was performed to assess the association between fear of Covid-19 and the exposure variables. A total of 2,152 subjects were assessed. Higher fear of Covid-19 was found among women and in individuals with symptoms of Covid-19. Living alone, being richer, and testing positive for Covid-19 were associated with lower prevalence of fear. Higher prevalence of fear of Covid-19 was related to worse sleep quality, worse health perception, sadness, higher stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. There was a linear association between fear of Covid-19 and health outcomes. The results provide evidence that fear of Covid-19 seems to be associated with socioeconomic, demographic, health and pandemic-related factors.

Keywords: Behavior; Mental health; Pandemic; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Association between fear of Covid-19 and health outcomes. Rio Grande-RS and Criciúma-SC, 2021 (n=2,152).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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