PREVALENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITIES AMONG COVID -19 PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL, CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU.
Background: Due the lack of treatment options, isolation guidelines and fear about the disease, the cases with COVID 19 may experience high psychiatric related disorders. Hence this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of psychiatric morbidities among the cases with COVID 19 in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: Cross sectional study in the Department of Psychiatry at Government Medical College , Omandurar Government Estate, Chennai, a tertiary care teaching hospital during the period of April 2020 to September 2020. A total of 11,704 cases with COVID-19 were included in the study. Demographic details and psychiatry related clinical prole were assessed and entered in a proforma. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Results: Overall prevalence of psychiatric morbidities among the COVID 19 cases was reported as 24.4% with signicant difference in prevalence among males and females. Most common psychiatric illness reported was COVID related anxiety (16.5%) followed by COVID related depression (6.6%), insomnia (0.87%), alcohol dependence syndrome (0.3%), acute stress reaction (0.03%), intellectual disability (0.03%), psychosis (0.02%) and hemophobia (0.008%). The difference in proportion of cases with various psychiatric morbidities like insomnia, COVID related anxiety, COVID related depression, and alcohol dependance syndrome among the male and female genders was found to be statistically signicant. Conclusion: Almost one fourth of the COVID cases are suffering from psychiatric morbidities. It can be recommended that all the cases with COVID can undergo screening and counseling for the psychiatric disorders.