Anxiety among Indian school children during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional online study (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Covid-19 has evoked crucial distress around the world. Globally policymakers and leaders have imposed lockdown measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. This study aims to analyze the prevalence of anxiety among adolescent school going children of India during the lockdown period of the covid -19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE To analyze the anxiety of Covid-19 infection among the school children in India. METHODS : In this cross-sectional online survey, 6390 students were assessed for their anxiety levels using CAS (coronavirus anxiety scale) questionnaire. Five factors which is considered as the manifestation of anxiety that have been analysed in this study are dizziness, paralysis, sleep disturbance, stomach disturbance, loss of appetite (LOA) for two weeks. RESULTS Most of the respondents reported mild anxiety (94.8%); only 5.2% were found to be suffering from dysfunctional anxiety. Many of the respondents did not report financial crisis, agreed to watch COVID-19 related news on media, anxious about their career and had a neutral opinion about online class. Multiple linear regression analysis (adjusted and unadjusted) revealed that students reporting each response options for the five signs compared to students who have no anxiety have a significant contribution to the total score of anxiety. The anxiety level significantly increased with the family's financial issues, even among students who are satisfied with online classes, living in the containment zone and understandably tested positive for COVID -19. CONCLUSIONS The findings showing low anxiety level among our participants suggest that the government policy regarding dissemination of information regarding the disease, prevention of spread, measures are taken by the Government to manage patients, etc., could be the reasons behind such favourable findings. However, it has to be noted that the pandemic is far from over and might extend for an undefined period which might further increase anxiety among students.