Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in India among Medicos and Non-Medicos during Covid 19: A Survey

Meghna Gupta, Vitull K Gupta, Navjot Kaur, Parneet K Hari, Kashish Goyal
2021 International Journal of Life-Sciences Scientific Research  
Emerging evidence suggests a significant risk of mental health issues been associated with disease pandemics in past and during the present COVID-19 pandemic. Generalised anxiety disorders and depression are considered one of the most common mental disorders and there is a paucity of studies documenting their prevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted this survey using completely voluntary anonymous Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health
more » ... ionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) by distributing hard copies and e-copies after ethical approval. The anonymous survey questionnaire included socio-demographic characteristics like age, gender, medico or non-medico and residence in Punjab or outside Punjab. Results: A total of 4333 subjects completed the survey. The prevalence of anxiety in the study population was 80.5% including 79.3% among medicos and 81.9% among non-medicos. The prevalence of depression in the study population was 73.3% including 74.7% among medicos and 71.7% among non-medicos. Most of the study population, medicos and non-medicos had mild anxiety and minimal depression as compared to another level of severity of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Our survey shows the high prevalence of anxiety and depression as compared to other studies documented in the literature, necessitating an increased focus on mental health issues and their psychological impacts to contain and curb grave adverse effects of anxiety and depression along with the need for early diagnosis and appropriate management of mental health disorders.
doi:10.21276/ssr-iijls.2021.7.5.5 fatcat:esrfbpwg5bgstatwqcxty57uqu