Obuobi-Donkor Gloria, Shalaby Reham, Agyapong Belinda, da Luz Dias Raquel, Agyapong Vincent Israel Opoku
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada.
J Clin Med. 2024 May 30;13(11):3234. doi: 10.3390/jcm13113234.
Wildfires have become increasingly prevalent in various regions, resulting in substantial environmental and psychological consequences that have garnered increasing attention. This study aims to examine the prevalence of likely Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and explore the determinants of likely GAD during the wildfires in Alberta and Nova Scotia. Data were collected online through a cross-sectional survey from 14 May-23 June 2023. Alberta and Nova Scotia participants self-subscribed to the program by texting 'HopeAB' or 'HopeNS' to a short code, respectively. The GAD-7-validated tool was used to collect information on likely GAD. This study included 298 respondents while one hundred and twelve respondents lived in a region of Alberta/Nova Scotia affected by the wildfires (37.7%). The prevalence of likely GAD among the respondents was 41.9%. Respondents who lived in a region of Alberta/Nova Scotia recently impacted by the wildfires were twice as likely to experience GAD symptoms (OR = 2.4; 95% C.I. 1.3-4.3). The study's identification of a statistically significant relationship between residing in a wildfire-impacted region and likely GAD shows the association between environmental and psychological well-being. However, the relatively small sample size and self-reported assessment of GAD symptoms may limit the generalizability of the findings. Further research involving a larger sample size delving into potential predictors could facilitate strategies for mitigating the mental health consequences of natural disasters.
野火在各个地区日益普遍，造成了严重的环境和心理后果，这已引起越来越多的关注。本研究旨在调查艾伯塔省和新斯科舍省野火期间可能患广泛性焦虑症（GAD）的患病率，并探讨可能患GAD的决定因素。数据于2023年5月14日至6月23日通过横断面调查在线收集。艾伯塔省和新斯科舍省的参与者分别通过向一个短代码发送短信“HopeAB”或“HopeNS”自行报名参加该项目。使用经过验证的GAD-7工具收集有关可能患GAD的信息。本研究包括298名受访者，其中112名受访者居住在艾伯塔省/新斯科舍省受野火影响的地区（37.7%）。受访者中可能患GAD的患病率为41.9%。居住在艾伯塔省/新斯科舍省最近受野火影响地区的受访者出现GAD症状的可能性是其他人的两倍（比值比=2.4；95%置信区间1.3-4.3）。该研究确定居住在受野火影响地区与可能患GAD之间存在统计学上的显著关系，这表明了环境与心理健康之间的关联。然而，相对较小的样本量和对GAD症状的自我报告评估可能会限制研究结果的普遍性。进一步开展涉及更大样本量的研究，深入探究潜在预测因素，可能有助于制定减轻自然灾害对心理健康影响的策略。
