scholarly journals COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain: Psychological impact is greatest on younger and vulnerable children.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Matalí-Costa ◽  
Ester Camprodon-Rosanas

Abstract In 2020, quarantine home confinement measures were implemented in Spain to control a pandemic for the first time. The objective of this study is to assess both the psychological and social impact of that “lockdown” on different age groups of children and adolescents, and also the different strategies adopted by families in that situation. We collected data via an online questionnaire answered by 850 participants, parents of young people aged between 4 and 18, between 24th April and 8th May 2020. Our results show that living in a home smaller than 80 m2 is associated with an increased risk of presenting clinical symptoms of emotional or behavioural distress, with an odds ratio of 2.54 (95%CI: 1.07 - 6.02), p = 0.034; while increased age is a predictor of better psychological functioning during lockdown: coefficient of 0.25 (95%CI: 0.07 - 0.41), p = 0.004. Moreover, age is also a marker of higher scores on the scale of psychological symptoms, with a coefficient of 0.02 (95%CI: 0.01 - 0.04), p = 0.005. To conclude, younger children present poorer behavioural and emotional functioning and more symptoms of emotional distress than adolescents during lockdown. Living in a small home is a risk factor for presenting clinical symptoms. These findings should be taken into consideration when planning for future home confinement episodes and when considering preventative strategies in the realm of mental healthcare.

2021 ◽  
pp. 135910452110550
Author(s):  
Josep Matalí-Costa ◽  
Ester Camprodon-Rosanas

In 2020, quarantine home confinement measures were implemented in Spain to control a pandemic for the first time. The objective of this study is to assess both the psychological and social impact of that ‘lockdown’ on different age groups of children and adolescents and also the different strategies adopted by families in that situation. We collected data via an online questionnaire answered by 850 participants, parents of young people aged between 4 and 18, between 24th April and 8th May 2020. Our results show that living in a home smaller than 80 m2 is associated with an increased risk of presenting clinical symptoms of emotional or behavioural distress, with an odds ratio of 2.54 (95% CI: 1.07–6.02), p = 0.034; while increased age is a predictor of better psychological functioning during lockdown: coefficient of 0.25 (95% CI: 0.07–0.41), p = 0.004. Moreover, age is also a marker of higher scores on the scale of psychological symptoms, with a coefficient of 0.02 (95% CI: 0.01–0.04), p = .005. To conclude, younger children present poorer behavioural and emotional functioning and more symptoms of emotional distress than adolescents during lockdown. Living in a small home is a risk factor for presenting clinical symptoms. These findings should be taken into consideration when planning for future home confinement episodes and when considering preventative strategies in the realm of mental health care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 2976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos ◽  
Bianca Gonzalez Martins ◽  
Lucas Arrais Campos ◽  
João Marôco ◽  
Rayya Ahmed Saadiq ◽  
...  

Background: Isolation measures used to contain epidemics generate social interaction restrictions and impose changes in routines of the public that increase negative psychological outcomes. Anxiety and depression are the most common symptoms. Objective: To evaluate the mental health of the Brazilian population during the SARs-CoV-2 pandemic and its relationship with demographic and health characteristics. Methods: Adults from all Brazilian States participated (n = 12,196; women: 69.8%, mean age = 35.2 years). The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, and the Impact of Event Scale–revised were used (online survey). Data validity and reliability were verified by confirmatory factor analysis and ordinal alpha coefficient. The probability of presenting psychological symptoms was calculated by multiple logistic regression and odds ratio (OR) (0 = without symptoms, 1 = with mild, moderate, and severe levels of symptoms). Results: High prevalence of depression (61.3%), anxiety (44.2%), stress (50.8%), and psychological impact (54.9%) due to the isolation experienced from the pandemic was found. Younger individuals (OR = 1.58–3.58), those that felt unsafe (OR = 1.75–2.92), with a previous diagnosis of mental health (OR = 1.72–2.64) and/or had general health problems before the pandemic (OR = 1.17–1.51), who noticed changes in their mental state due to the pandemic context (OR = 2.53–9.07), and excessively exposed to the news (OR = 1.19–2.18) were at increased risk of developing symptoms. Women (OR = 1.35–1.65) and those with lower economic status (OR = 1.38–2.69) were more likely to develop psychological symptoms. Lower educational levels increased the likelihood of depressive (OR = 1.03–1.34) and intrusive symptoms (OR = 1.09–1.51). Conclusions: The pandemic and related factors can have a high impact on the mental health of the population. Demographic characteristics can influence the occurrence of psychological symptoms.


Author(s):  
Kristel Lankhorst ◽  
◽  
Janke de Groot ◽  
Tim Takken ◽  
Frank Backx

Abstract Background Although sports participation leads to important health enhancement for youth with chronic diseases or physical disabilities (CDPD), it may pose an increased risk for injury or illness. This study investigated the incidence, type, severity and risks to (sports-related) injuries and illnesses among ambulatory youth with CDPD. Methods Over a 12-month period, every 2 weeks, the characteristics of injuries and illnesses were registered by an online questionnaire and phone-based interview. Physical activity level was measured with the Activ8 during 1 week. Complete data was available of 103 youngsters with CDPD (61 boys, 42 girls), with a mean age of 14.4 (SD = 2.7) years. The personal characteristics, the injury and illness rates per 1000 h of PA were investigated per group of organized sports participation per week (0, 1 or ≥ 2 times p/wk). Results Almost half of the youngsters sustained one or more injuries (46%) or illnesses (42%) during 1 year. The injury rate per 1000 h of PA between 0, 1 and ≥ 2 times per week of sports participation was 0.84, 1.88, 133 respectively and the illness rate were 1.87, 1.88 and 1.18 respectively. Differences between the rates were not statically significant. Most reported health problems had no subsequent restriction (49%) or other minor consequences (21%) in school, physical education or sports participation. Most reported health problems were contusions (41%) at the lower extremity (74%) and flu plus fever (58%). Conclusions Participation in sports ≥2 times per week does not pose a significant increased risk in the incidence of injury or illness per 1000 h of PA in youth with CDPD compared to their peers who participate less frequent (once weekly) and compared to non-sports participants. Athletes who participate in sports at least twice weekly get injured mostly during their sporting activities, while peers who do participate in sports once a week or not at all, get injured during less intense physical activities during physical eduction lessons, ADL or non-organized sports and play in leisure time. The social impact of injuries or illnesses was limited.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Daimer ◽  
Lorenz Mihatsch ◽  
Lisa Ronan ◽  
Graham K. Murray ◽  
Franziska Knolle

AbstractStudies reported a strong impact on mental health during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in March–June, 2020. In this study, we investigated the impact of the pandemic on mental health in general and on schizoptypal traits specifically in general population samples of the UK (N 1sttimepoint=239, N 2ndtimepoint= 126) and Germany (N 1sttimepoint= 543, N 2ndtimepoint=401) over two timepoints, April/May and September/October 2020. We were able to show that whereas general psychological symptoms (global symptom index, GSI) and percentage of responders above clinical cut-off for further psychological investigation declined from the first to the second timepoint in both countries, schizotypy scores (Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire) were increased at the second timepoint. We investigated potential predictors, using regression models. For schizotypy, we detected a doubling or more of the estimated impact from the first to the second timepoint, including stronger perceived loneliness, increased use of drugs, stronger financial burden, and decreased regular exercise and sleep. These effects predicted GSI, however with a lower increase of impact from the first to the second timepoint. We furthermore found that living in the UK was a predictor for higher schizotypal scores or GSI. However, the results are highly comparable between the two countries. In conclusion, this study shows that while the general psychological impact decreases, potentially showing a normative response to an exceptional situation; schizotypy scores increase, revealing a stronger impact of loneliness, drug use, and financial burden. This development might create an increased risk for developing psychosis in some individuals. The development of the general psychological and schizotypy scores over time requires further attention and investigation.


Author(s):  
Maitham Jaber Aljaber ◽  
Maria Mahdi Alqadeeb ◽  
Jassim Hijji Alsaleem ◽  
Sadiq Fadhel Al Ameen ◽  
Ahmad Ibrahim Alhashem ◽  
...  

The first outbreak of (COVID-19) was in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of December 2019 in the form of acute pneumonia. COVID-19 is a serious and highly infectious disease that affected 245,621,992 cases worldwide, leading to a dramatic loss of everyday lifestyle and negatively impacting people's psychological status. This paper shows Parents' Stress and Children's Psychological Problems during this pandemic. Objectives: This work determined the psychological impacts of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on parents and children. Methods: Parents who have children aged between 4 and 16 years old (n=424) completed an online questionnaire using QuestionPro and gave written informed consent. The questionnaire was distributed through social media (WhatsApp, Telegram ) from December 6th to January 5th, 2020-2021. We excluded all responses that came from outside Saudi Arabia. Also, we excluded participants who did not have children; if the parent had more than one child, they were asked to report on one child only. Parents described the difficulties they faced, the parent-child dyadic stress, and their children's behavioral and emotional complications during the pandemic. The participants filled the depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Dass21) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scale. Results: There were significant impacts on the mental health of the public. Our findings demonstrated that the COVID-19 outbreak had remarkable psycho-social effects on children and their parents.The results showed that younger parents were more affected than older parents,Q6 (r = 0.150, p<0.01), DASS stress (r = -0.266, p<0.01), DASS anxiety (r = -0.201, p<0.01), and DASS depression (r = -0.265, p<0.01),but there was no significant psychological impact of having COVID-19. Those who had relatives who died from COVID were at a higher risk of depression (r=0.006, p<0.05). Having a child diagnosed with mental illness seems to have increased the risk of depression, anxiety, and stress of parents. There was a significant association between parents' mental health and their children's psychological adjustment. Conclusions: Quarantining is stressful, especially for parents who also have work and school obligations. This circumstance puts parents at a greater risk of distress and might prevent them from being supportive parents. This, in turn, can lead to psychological symptoms in children. Governmental actions should consider the implications of lockdown on families and their mental health. Recommendation for Future Research: since this study had only focused on one child if parents have more than one with a limited number of participants, we recommended that further research be carried on a larger sample size to see whether there are any similarities in the findings.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristel Lankhorst ◽  
Janke de Groot ◽  
Tim Takken ◽  
Frank Backx

Abstract Background: Although sports participation leads to important health enhancement for youth with chronic diseases or physical disabilities (CDPD), it may pose an increased risk for injury or illness. This study investigated the incidence, type, severity and risks to (sports-related) injuries and illnesses among youth with CDPD. Methods: For one calendar year, every two weeks, the characteristics of injuries and illnesses were registered by an online questionnaire and phone-based interview. Physical activity level was measured with the Activ8 during one week. Complete data was available of 103 youngsters with CDPD (61 boys, 42 girls), with a mean age of 14.4 (SD=2.7) years. The personal characteristics, the injury and illness rates per 1000 hours of PA were investigated per group of organized sports participation per week (0, 1 or ≥2 times p/wk). Results: Almost half of the youngsters sustains one or more injuries or illnesses during one year, 46% and 42% resp. The injury rate per 1000 hours of PA between 0, 1 and ≥2 times per week of sports participation was 0.84, 1.88, 133 resp. and the illness rate was 1.87, 1.88 and 1.18 resp. The rates were not statistically different. Most reported health problems had no subsequent restriction (49%) or other minor consequences (21%) in school, physical education or sports participation. Most reported health problems were contusions (41%) at the lower extremity (74%) and flue plus fever (58%). Conclusions: Participation in sports ≥2 times per week does not pose a significant increased risk in the incidence of injury or illness per 1000 hours of PA in youth with CDPD compared to once weekly or no sports participation. Athletes who participate in sports at least twice weekly get injured mostly during their sporting activities, while peers who do participate in sports once a week or not at all, get injured during less intense physical activities during PE lessons, ADL or non-organized sports and play in leisure time. The social impact of injuries or illnesses was limited.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
P Vasekova ◽  
L Plank

Abstract Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) represent very heterogenous group of clonal stem cell bone marrow disorders with ineffective haematopoesis leading to cytopenias in peripheral blood and increased risk of blastic transformation and evolution of acute myeloid leukemia. MDS is a disease of older age mostly, in children it seems to be very rare. There are several significant morphological, cytogenetic and prognostic differencies of the disease in adults and in children. Adult MDS patients most commonly manifest with symptoms of anemia, bleeding and infection are uncommon. In childhood, MDS manifests predominantly by neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. In addition, some pediatric MDS patients present also with constitutional disease’s signs and symptoms. Early and correct diagnosis in both age groups is essential for the choice of appropriate therapy and also for next life of patients. However, the diagnosis of MDS is challenging, complex and requiring close correlation of clinical symptoms, laboratory parameters and standardized examination of BM biopsies. The authors present an overview focused on biology of MDS in adults and children, on the differences in the incidence, clinical presentation and treatment. They summarize the possibilities and limits of histopathological diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the disease in different age groups. A major problem in the morphological diagnosis of MDS remains the determination, whether the myelodysplasia is due to clonal disorder. It might result also from some other factors, as significant dysplasia can also occur in reactive conditions, and vice versa, only discrete dysplasia is sometimes observed in MDS patients. Although histomorphological and immunohistochemical analysis of BM biopsy is invasive and time-consuming examination, it has its value in the diagnosis, differential diagnosis and evaluation of therapeutic effect.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahraa Y. Motaweq ◽  
Habeeb S. Naher

Abstract During the period from February 2013 to April 2014, 74 (12.3%) isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were isolated from 600 patients (359 males and 241 females) with clinical symptoms of Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) (pneumonia and COPD) obtained from Najaf/Iraq Hospitals. Patients in the age groups 51-60 years had a high percentage of S. pneumoniae isolates (19.7%) compared with other age groups with a significant variation (P<0.05) between them. Males (54%) showed a higher percentage of S. pneumoniae isolates than females (45.9%) with no significant variation (P>0.05). Smokers have been shown to have increased risk to LRTI than non-smokers (P>0.05), and there was no significant variation between Urban and Rural (56.8:43.2%) patients. S. pneumoniae showed different susceptibilities towards antibiotics used in this study. The highest rate of resistance was against erythromycin (100%), azithromycin (83.8%), clindamycin (83.8%) and trimethoprim/sulfamethaxzol (81.1%) and moderate resistance to ceftriaxone (67.6%), cefotaxime (64.9%), chloramphenicol (64.9%), tetracycline (59.5%) and benzylpenicillin (45.9%) whereas there was a relatively lower resistance towards others. The results of this study showed that S. pneumoniae isolates were found to be remarkable sensitive to Vancomycin (100%) and Imipenem (100%). In this study, sixteen antibiotics were tested for (MIC) against 37 S. pneumoniae isolates by using Vitek-2 antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) cards (41497) AST-GP74. 100% and 83.8% of S. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to erythromycin and SXT with MIC ≥1 mg/ml and 4/76 mg/ml of these antibiotic respectively, and moderately resistant to cefotaxime 64.9%, ceftriaxone 64.9% and chloramphenicol 64.9% with MIC 4 mg/ml for CTX and CRO each one, and MIC 8 mg/ml for C only. All isolates showed 100% sensitivity for each of Vancomycin and Erythromycin with MIC mg/ml and ≤1 mg/ml and ≤2 mg/ml, respectively. S. pneumoniae isolates showed a high rate of sensitivity to Ertapenem 97.3% with MIC ≤1 mg/ml, Telithromycin 89.2% with MIC ≤1, Meropenem 86.5% with MIC ≤0.25 mg/ml.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Bonati ◽  
Rita Campi ◽  
Michele Zanetti ◽  
Massimo Cartabia ◽  
Francesca Scarpellini ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Quarantine as a preventive action to reduce people’s exposure to a contagious disease has substantial psychological impact. We aimed to collect information on psychologically distressing experiences of Italians living in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods From 6 to 20 April 2020 participants filled out an online questionnaire. Demographic and physical symptoms data from the prior 14 days of quarantine were collected. Psychological impact of quarantine was assessed by the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI). Results In all, 20,158 participants completed the online survey. Of these, 11,910 (59.1%) were from Lombardy, the region with 37.7% of positive cases identified during the survey period. 30.1% of responders were male. About half (55.9%) of responders were 18–50 years old, 54.3% had a tertiary level of education, 69.5% were workers, 84.1% were living in houses with ≥3 rooms, and 13.7% were living alone. 9.7% had had contact with COVID-19 positive people. Of all responders, 9978 (48.6%) reported a psychological impact, 8897 (43.4%) of whom reported mild or moderate and 1081 (5.2%) severe psychological impact. The multivariate analysis, after adjustments, showed that an increasing CPDI score was associated with gender (female), first-second educational level, being unemployed, living in a ≤2 room house, having had new health problems during the previous 14 days, and not having been out of the house in the previous week. Concerning the type of psychological distress, 2003 responders (9.9%) reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms, 1131 (5.5%) moderate to severe anxiety symptoms, and 802 (3.9%) moderate to severe physical symptoms. A positive correlation was found between responder rate (per 10.000 residents) and positive COVID-19 cases (per 10.000 residents) by region (rs = + 0.83, p = < 0.0001), and between responder rate and region latitude (rs = + 0.91, p = < 0.0001), with a greater response rate in the north. Considering Lombardy Region responders, a negative correlation between CPDI score and distance from place of residence to the red zone (Nembro-Alzano) was found. Higher prevalence of psychological distress was found up to 25 km away from the red zone and, in particular, severe distress up to 15 km. Conclusions Policy makers and mental health professionals should be aware of quarantine’s adverse mental health consequences. Factors influencing the success of quarantine and infection control practices for both disease containment and community recovery should be identified and additional support to vulnerable persons at increased risk of adverse psychological and social consequences of quarantine should be guaranteed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Animesh Ray ◽  
Dr. Komal Singh ◽  
Souvick Chattopadhyay ◽  
Farha Mehdi ◽  
Dr. Gaurav Batra ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 is an important tool to estimate the true extent of infection in a population. However, seroprevalence studies have been scarce in South East Asia including India, which, as of now, carries the third largest burden of confirmed cases in the world. The present study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody among hospitalized patients at one of the largest government hospital in India OBJECTIVE The primary objective of this study is to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody among patients admitted to the Medicine ward and ICU METHODS This cross-sectional study, conducted at a tertiary care hospital in North India, recruited consecutive patients who were negative for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR or CB-NAAT. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody levels targeting recombinant spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein of SARS CoV-2 were estimated in serum sample by the ELISA method RESULTS A total of 212 hospitalized patients were recruited in the study with mean age (±SD) of 41.2 (±15.4) years and 55% male population. Positive serology against SARS CoV-2 was detected in 19.8%patients(95% CI 14.7-25.8). Residency in Delhi conferred a higher frequency of seropositivity 26.5% (95% CI 19.3-34.7) as compared to that of other states 8% (95% CI 3.0-16.4) with p-value 0.001. No particular age groups or socio-economic strata showed a higher proportion of seropositivity CONCLUSIONS Around, one-fifth of hospitalized patients, who were not diagnosed with COVID-19 before, demonstrated seropositivity against SARS-CoV-2. While there was no significant difference in the different age groups and socio-economic classes; residence in Delhi was associated with increased risk (relative risk of 3.62, 95% CI 1.59-8.21)


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