Psychological distress among the people during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study (Preprint)
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 epidemic has had a major impact on mental health in the general population. As a result, during a pandemic, monitoring and oversight of the population's mental health is a top responsibility. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to examines the anxiety level of the people during initial period of COVID-19. METHODS The cross sectional online survey was done using the zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and zung self-rating depression scale. Out of 250 responders, 19.2%, 6.4%, and 0.8% experienced mild, moderate, marked to severe levels of anxiety RESULTS According to analysis, female (OR=1.3,95% CI=0.55 – 3.3,P=0.524), above the age of 59 years(OR=1.6,CI=(0.33 – 7.72),P=0.555), were experiencing moderate level of anxiety when compared with others. Related to depression, 36.4%,16.4% and 5.2% experienced mild, moderate ,marked to severe levels of depression. The findings show that female (OR=0.79,95%,CI=0.36–1.7,P=0.of0.845),above the age of 59 years(OR=4.4,CI=0.75 – 25.8,P=0.101)were experiencing marked level of depression than others. CONCLUSIONS The main causes for anxiety and depression among the people is due to financial constraints, dual role of women, work from home, fear of infection, unemployment and online education.