Department of Medical Laboratory Science, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Pan Afr Med J. 2021 Oct 5;40:76. doi: 10.11604/pamj.2021.40.76.26834. eCollection 2021.
COVID-19 pandemic has had a greater psychological impact on patients with chronic ailments such as diabetes mellitus, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS compared to those without chronic conditions. We explored the psychological impacts of COVID-19 among people living with diabetes mellitus in Ghana.
this study employed a hospital-based cross-sectional design involving 157 diabetes mellitus patients aged 20 years and above. We assessed diabetes distress by the seventeen-item diabetes stress (DDS17) scale and COVID-19 worries by 3 specific benchmarks: "worry about overly affected due to diabetes if infected with COVID-19", "worry about people with diabetes characterized as a risk group" and "worry about not able to manage diabetes if infected with COVID-19". A close-ended questionnaire was used in data collection.
of 157 diabetic patients interviewed, the majority had type 2 diabetes mellitus with known complications and only 42.7% were managing COVID-19 symptoms. The participants showed moderate to high level of COVID-19 specific worry, moderate fear of isolation, and low level of diabetes-associated distress. About 33.8% of the study population expressed a sense of worry towards the pandemic. The logistic regression showed that age, employment status, and presence of other chronic diseases were significantly associated with worries about being overly affected if infected with COVID-19 due to their diabetes status. Age and sex were associated with worries about people with diabetes being characterized as a risk group and age, sex and employment status were associated with participants who were worried about not being able to manage diabetes if infected with COVID-19.
the general trend indicates a sense of worry among diabetes patients during the COVID-19 pandemic which is associated with poorer psychological health. Clients' education and counseling on COVID-19 are necessary to address some of their concerns to minimize the level of anxiety and emotional stress in these individuals.
与没有慢性疾病的患者相比，COVID-19 大流行对患有糖尿病、结核病和艾滋病等慢性疾病的患者产生了更大的心理影响。我们探讨了 COVID-19 对加纳糖尿病患者的心理影响。
本研究采用基于医院的横断面设计，涉及 157 名年龄在 20 岁及以上的糖尿病患者。我们通过十七项糖尿病压力量表（DDS17）评估糖尿病压力，并用三个具体基准评估 COVID-19 担忧：“如果感染 COVID-19，担心因糖尿病而过度受影响”、“担心糖尿病患者被视为风险群体”和“担心感染 COVID-19 时无法管理糖尿病”。在数据收集过程中使用了封闭式问卷。
在接受采访的 157 名糖尿病患者中，大多数患有 2 型糖尿病并伴有已知并发症，只有 42.7%的患者正在管理 COVID-19 症状。参与者表现出中等到高度的 COVID-19 特定担忧、中度的隔离恐惧和低度的糖尿病相关压力。约 33.8%的研究人群对大流行表示担忧。逻辑回归显示，年龄、就业状况和其他慢性疾病的存在与因糖尿病状况而对感染 COVID-19 过度受影响的担忧显著相关。年龄和性别与对糖尿病患者被视为风险群体的担忧有关，年龄、性别和就业状况与担心感染 COVID-19 时无法管理糖尿病的参与者有关。
总体趋势表明，COVID-19 大流行期间糖尿病患者存在担忧，这与较差的心理健康有关。有必要对患者进行 COVID-19 教育和咨询，以解决他们的一些担忧，从而最大限度地降低这些个体的焦虑和情绪压力水平。
