COVID-19 pandemic, infection increase risk for general psychiatric disorders, loneliness

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as infection with the virus, appeared associated with increased risk for development of general psychiatric disorders and loneliness, according to study results published in Psychiatry Research.

“Research evidences the prevalence of generalized anxiety disorders, depression, insomnia and post-traumatic stress symptoms during the pandemic,” Lambert Zixin Li, MPhil, of Stanford University, and Senhu Wang, PhD, of University of Cambridge Centre for Business Research, wrote. “Because these studies focus on specific types of psychiatric disorders and use a small or non-representative sample, we know little about how a national population suffers general psychiatric disorders from the pandemic and feel lonely as a result of such disease control measures as social distancing, lockdown and quarantine. General psychiatric disorders and loneliness are arguably more widespread than the specific psychiatric disorders in the past studies, more likely to be prevalent in the developed countries and more severely affecting the socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.”

In the current analysis of a large-scale, nationally representative survey study, Li and Wang sought to evaluate the prevalence and predictors of loneliness and general psychiatric disorders in the U.K. during the COVID-19 pandemic. They assessed general psychiatric disorders using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, which analyzed factors ranging from depressive anxiety symptoms to confidence to overall happiness, and loneliness using a question adapted from English Longitudinal Study on Aging regarding how often participants felt lonely over a period of 4 weeks. Data were available of 15,530 participants who served as the first wave of the Understanding Society COVID-19 study.

Results showed 29.2% of participants scored four, which was considered the clinical referral threshold, or more on the general psychiatric disorder measure. Further, 35.86% of participants reported sometimes or often feeling lonely. According to results of regression analyses, individuals who have or had symptoms related to COVID-19 were at increased risk for developing general psychiatric disorders and for loneliness. Living with a partner and having a job served as protective factors. Young people and women were at greater risk for developing general psychiatric disorders and feelings of loneliness.

“Future research and public health policies need to move beyond specific psychiatric disorders to attend to the general psychiatric disorders and loneliness of a larger proportion of the population,” Li and Wang wrote. “They need to pay special attention to vulnerable populations, including women, the younger, the unemployed, those not living with a partner and those who have or had COVID-19 symptoms. A pandemic like COVID-19 could exaggerate social disparities in mental health in subtle ways, calling for research on effective interventions, such as mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction and timely provision of psychiatric services.”