Mitra Amal K, Dutta Sinjita, Mondal Aparajita, Rashid Mamunur
Department of Public Health, Julia Jones Matthews School of Population and Public Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Abilene, TX 79601, USA.
Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research, 240 AJC Bose Road, Kolkata 700020, West Bengal, India.
Diseases. 2024 Oct 1;12(10):233. doi: 10.3390/diseases12100233.
About 14% of adolescents experience mental illnesses globally. The rate increased after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of COVID-related major mental illnesses (depression and anxiety) and their predictors among adolescents. This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 350 adolescents aged 10-19 years, recruited from rural communities in West Bengal, India. The study areas included 27 subcenters in the Budge Budge II Block, which comprised 191,709 population and 45,333 households. Data were collected from randomly selected households by trained research assistants through house-to-house interviews. Pretested standardized questionnaires, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) for depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) for anxiety, and a demographic questionnaire were used for data collection. The prevalence of anxiety was 35.7% (125 out of 350), and the prevalence of depression was 30.0% (105 out of 350). Females had significantly higher scores of anxiety (6.67 ± 4.76 vs. 3.42 ± 3.17, respectively, < 0.001) and depression (5.51 ± 4.99 vs. 3.26 ± 3.86, respectively, < 0.001) compared to males. Adolescents who had COVID-19 cases or deaths in the family had significantly higher scores of anxiety and depression compared to those who did not have these events. In multivariate analysis, the statistically significant predictors of anxiety were COVID-19 death in the family, COVID-19 cases in the family, female gender, and a lower income group ( < 0.001 for all). For depression, the significant predictors included COVID-19 death in the family, COVID-19 cases in the family, female gender, a lower income group, and a higher age group in adolescents ( < 0.001 for all). Based on the study results, we recommend that immediate attention is needed for adolescents' mental health support and coping with stresses following COVID-19.
全球约14%的青少年患有精神疾病。这一比例在新冠疫情后有所上升。本研究旨在估计青少年中与新冠相关的主要精神疾病（抑郁症和焦虑症）的患病率及其预测因素。这项基于社区的横断面研究在350名年龄在10至19岁的青少年中进行，这些青少年来自印度西孟加拉邦的农村社区。研究区域包括布吉布吉二区的27个基层医疗中心，该地区有191,709人口和45,333户家庭。数据由经过培训的研究助理通过逐户访谈从随机选择的家庭中收集。使用经过预测试的标准化问卷，即用于抑郁症的患者健康问卷（PHQ）、用于焦虑症的广泛性焦虑障碍（GAD）问卷以及一份人口统计学问卷进行数据收集。焦虑症的患病率为35.7%（350人中125人），抑郁症的患病率为30.0%（350人中105人）。与男性相比，女性的焦虑得分（分别为6.67±4.76和3.42±3.17，<0.001）和抑郁得分（分别为5.51±4.99和3.26±3.86，<0.001）显著更高。与家庭中没有新冠病例或死亡的青少年相比，家庭中有新冠病例或死亡的青少年的焦虑和抑郁得分显著更高。在多变量分析中，焦虑的统计学显著预测因素是家庭中的新冠死亡、家庭中的新冠病例、女性性别和低收入群体（所有P<0.001）。对于抑郁症，显著预测因素包括家庭中的新冠死亡、家庭中的新冠病例、女性性别、低收入群体以及青少年中的较高年龄组（所有P<0.001）。基于研究结果，我们建议需要立即关注青少年的心理健康支持以及应对新冠疫情后的压力。
