The Combined Impact of Gender and Age on Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms, Depression, and Insomnia During COVID-19 Outbreak in China

Frontiers in Public Health

Mingqi Fu¹  Jam Farooq Ahmed²  Jing Guo³  Xiaohua Wang⁴  Yiqing Wang⁴  Yanjun Zhang⁵  Chengbin Liu⁶  Danxia Liu⁶  Ning Huang⁶  Muhammad Shahid⁷ 

[1] Center for Social Security Studies, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China;Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States;Department of Anthropology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan;Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China;School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China;School of Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China;School of Sociology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China;World Health Organization, Balochistan, Pakistan;

关键词: PTSD;    depression;    insomnia;    age;    gender;    China;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2020.620023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The mental health problems might have been increased owing to the COVID-19 pandemic with the commencement of the year 2020, therefore, an epidemiological survey appraising the burden of mental health issues among the general population is imperative. This cross-sectional study attempts to reveal the underlying mental health conditions, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS), depression, and insomnia, relating to the pandemic situation, and to further examine the combined effects of gender and age on the COVID-19 related mental health consequences. An online survey was conducted among 2,992 adults in China from February 1st 2020 to February 10th 2020. The study uses binary logistic regression to analyze the potential factors associated with PTSD, depression, and insomnia. The results indicate that the prevalence of PTSS, depression, and insomnia are 19.5, 26.9, and 19.6% respectively during the COVID-19. Men and women show different rates of PTSS and depression, whereas no insomnia is found in both males and females. The females above 50 years of age have a lower level of depressive symptoms (OR = 0.448, 95%CI: 0.220–0.911, Cohen's d = −0.443) as compared with females aged 18–25; while the highest effect sizes for PTSS (OR = 2.846, 95%CI: 1.725–4.695, Cohen's d = 0.537) and the depression (OR = 2.024, 95%CI: 1.317–3.111, Cohen's d = 0.314) are seen in males aged 26 to 30. Besides gender, education, living conditions, direct exposure to COVID-19, the post mental and the physical health condition is related to PTSS, depression, and insomnia. Our study suggests that high-risk groups, especially those having two or more related factors and young men, should be the focus of mental health intervention.

【 授权许可】

CC BY