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. 2022 Jul 9;19(14):8418.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19148418.

Mental Health Burden of the Russian-Ukrainian War 2022 (RUW-22): Anxiety and Depression Levels among Young Adults in Central Europe

Abanoub Riad  1 , Anton Drobov  1 , Martin Krobot  1 , Natália Antalová  1   2 , Muhammad Abdullatif Alkasaby  3 , Aleš Peřina  1 , Michal Koščík  1
Affiliations

Mental Health Burden of the Russian-Ukrainian War 2022 (RUW-22): Anxiety and Depression Levels among Young Adults in Central Europe

Abanoub Riad et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Armed conflicts are public health emergencies that affect human lives at multiple levels. The mental health of adolescents and young adults is at high risk during crisis settings; therefore, this cross-sectional survey-based study aimed to evaluate anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in the Czech Republic following the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022 (RUW-22). The study used standardized screening instruments; the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) for anxiety and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression. Of 591 students who participated in this study, 67.7% were females, 68.2% held Czech citizenship, and 63.8% were enrolled in medical or healthcare programs. The participants were highly concerned about the RUW-22 news, with a mean score of 7.17 ± 2.50 (0-10). While 34% and 40.7% of the participants in this study manifested moderate to severe levels of anxiety and depression, respectively, the mental health burden of the RUW-22 was confirmed by the positive correlation between "feeling concerned", GAD-7 (ρ = 0.454), and PHQ-9 (ρ = 0.326). Female gender, higher frequency of news following, and social media use were associated with higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms; thus, proposing them to be risk factors for psychological disorders following the RUW-22.

Keywords: Czech Republic; Ukraine; anxiety; armed conflicts; depression; patient health questionnaire; students.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores among Czech university students participating in the RUW-22 survey stratified by groups, April–May 2022, (n = 591).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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