Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Feb 5;18(1):4.
doi: 10.1186/s13033-024-00621-1.

Trends in mental health before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal survey of a conflict-affected population in Colombia

Rodrigo Moreno-Serra  1 , Sebastian Leon-Giraldo  2   3 , Nicolas Jater-Maldonado  4 , German Casas  5   6 , Oscar Bernal  4
Affiliations

Trends in mental health before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal survey of a conflict-affected population in Colombia

Rodrigo Moreno-Serra et al. Int J Ment Health Syst. .

Abstract

Background: Focusing on the Meta region in Colombia, we investigated the relationship between mental health, the COVID-19 pandemic, and social determinants of health influenced by over five decades of civil conflict. We studied the post-2016 peace agreement trends in mental health for the population of Meta, before and after the local onset of the pandemic.

Method: We conducted three rounds of a longitudinal health survey in years 2018 with N = 1309 (Women = 709; Men = 600); 2019 with N = 1106 (Women = 597; Men = 509); and 2020 with N = 905 (Women = 499; Men = 406). We measured mental health through the Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20), investigating population trends in the average SRQ score and SRQ-positive frequency (SRQ + , indicating positive tendency towards experiencing mental health disorders).

Results: Between 2018 and 2020, there were reductions in the mean SRQ-20 score by 1.74 points (95% CI -2.30 to -1.18) and in SRQ + frequency by 15 percentage points (95% CI -21.0 to -9.0) for the Meta population. Yet specific subgroups have become more vulnerable to mental illness during the pandemic, for example older age groups (e.g., increase in mean SRQ score among over 60 s by 2.49 points, 95% CI 0.51 to 4.46) and people living with children younger than five years-old (e.g., increase in mean SRQ score by 0.64 points, 95% CI 0.07 to 1.20). Increased mental health vulnerability among specific subgroups may be related to differences in the likelihood of knowing people who tested positive for COVID-19 or died from itf having been in quarantine.

Conclusion: Our findings support the importance of public policies in Colombia (and other low- and middle-income countries) that address the social determinants of mental illness whose influence was likely exacerbated by the pandemic, including persistent job insecurity leading to work and financial pressures, and inadequate support networks for isolated individuals and vulnerable caregivers.

Keywords: COVID-19; Colombia; Conflict; Health; Mental health; SRQ.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart showing selection of survey respondents for the statistical analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. World Health Organization. COVID 19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Global research and innovation forum: towards a research roadmap. 2020.
    1. De la Hoz-Restrepo F, Alvis-Zakzuk NJ, de la Hoz-Gomez JF, de la Hoz A, del Corral LG, Alvis-Guzmán N. Is Colombia an example of successful containment of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic? A critical analysis of the epidemiological data, March to July 2020. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;99:522–529. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.08.017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Holingue C, Badillo-Goicoechea E, Riehm KE, Veldhuis CB, Thrul J, Johnson RM, et al. Mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic among US adults without a pre-existing mental health condition: findings from American trend panel survey. Prev Med. 2020;139:106231. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106231. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pan K-Y, Kok AAL, Eikelenboom M, Horsfall M, Jörg F, Luteijn RA, et al. The mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with and without depressive, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders: a longitudinal study of three Dutch case-control cohorts. Lancet Psychiatry. 2021;8(2):121–129. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30491-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pierce M, Hope H, Ford T, Hatch S, Hotopf M, John A, et al. Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7(10):883–892. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30308-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources