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. 2023 Feb 15;18(2):e0280587.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280587. eCollection 2023.

Short-term improvement of mental health after a COVID-19 vaccination

Charilaos Chourpiliadis  1 , Anikó Lovik  1 , Anna K Kähler  2 , Unnur A Valdimarsdóttir  1   3   4 , Emma M Frans  2 , Fredrik Nyberg  5 , Patrick F Sullivan  2   6 , Fang Fang  1
Affiliations

Short-term improvement of mental health after a COVID-19 vaccination

Charilaos Chourpiliadis et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: The role of COVID-19 vaccination on the mental health of the general population remains poorly understood. This study aims to assess the short-term change in depressive and anxiety symptoms in relation to COVID-19 vaccination among Swedish adults.

Methods: A prospective study of 7,925 individuals recruited from ongoing cohort studies at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, or through social media campaigns, with monthly data collections on self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms from December 2020 to October 2021 and COVID-19 vaccination from July to October 2021. Prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms (defined as a self-reported total score of ≥10 in PHQ-9 and GAD-7, respectively) was calculated one month before, one month after the first dose, and, if applicable, one month after the second dose. For individuals not vaccinated or choosing not to report vaccination status (unvaccinated individuals), we selected three monthly measures of PHQ-9 and GAD-7 with 2-month intervals in-between based on data availability.

Results: 5,079 (64.1%) individuals received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 1,977 (24.9%) received one dose, 305 (3.9%) were not vaccinated, and 564 (7.1%) chose not to report vaccination status. There was a lower prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms among vaccinated, compared to unvaccinated individuals, especially after the second dose. Among individuals receiving two doses of vaccine, the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms was lower after both first (aRR = 0.82, 95%CI 0.76-0.88 for depression; aRR = 0.81, 95%CI 0.73-0.89 for anxiety) and second (aRR = 0.79, 95%CI 0.73-0.85 for depression; aRR = 0.73, 95%CI 0.66-0.81 for anxiety) dose, compared to before vaccination. Similar results were observed among individuals receiving only one dose (aRR = 0.76, 95%CI 0.68-0.84 for depression; aRR = 0.82, 95%CI 0.72-0.94 for anxiety), comparing after first dose to before vaccination.

Conclusions: We observed a short-term improvement in depressive and anxiety symptoms among adults receiving COVID-19 vaccines in the current pandemic. Our findings provide new evidence to support outreach campaigns targeting hesitant groups.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: Emma M. Frans received a speaker’s fee from Astra Zeneca for a talk unrelated to the paper or any vaccine. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no patents, products in development nor marketed products associated with this research.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Risk Ratio comparing the prevalence of self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms after to before vaccination.
Risk Ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) of depression and anxiety, comparing the prevalence of self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms after COVID-19 vaccine (1st or 2nd dose) to the prevalence before vaccine among vaccinated individuals, and comparing the prevalence of later time points to baseline among the unvaccinated individuals. Unvaccinated individuals include individuals reporting no vaccination or choosing not to report vaccination status. The analyses were performed using GEE models and adjusted for age, sex, recruitment type, body mass index, relationship status, current smoking, number of comorbidities, history of psychiatric disorder, history of COVID-19 infection, and month of baseline survey. The risk ratio is plotted as a box, and the 95% confidence interval as the line.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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