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Purpose COVID-19, a disease that can be transmitted from person to person and with serious health problems, can be associated with mental health disorders. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and severity of depression, anxiety, stress, and stress perception among a group of patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 106 inpatients with COVID-19 who had stable clinical conditions were evaluated psychologically by two questionnaires: Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4). Results More than one third of patients had underlying disease. Overall, 97.2% of patients with COVID-19 had some degree of depression. Severity of depression, according to the DASS questionnaire, was 85.8%. All patients (100%) had severe (0.9%) and very severe (99.1%) anxiety. Regarding to stress levels, 97.1% of patients had some degree of stress. In the severity of stress category, 84.9% of patients had severe and very severe stress. In terms of perceived stress, 73.6% of patients had high levels and 22.6% had moderate levels. A positive strong correlation was found between depression and perceived stress (Coefficient: 0.33, P-value: 0.001). Correlation between anxiety and perceived stress was statistically significant (Coefficient: 0.2, P-value: 0.04). Conclusions The existence of such a high prevalence and severity of psychiatric disorders among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 underscores the need for serious attention to the mental health status of these patients. It seems that health policymakers need to have coherent plans for screening cases and managing related situations.

Objective: The global spread of COVID-19 has caused great psychological stress in health care workers (HCWs). This study aims to assess the prevalence and associated factors of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and stigma among health care workers (HCWs) who are involved in treating COVID-19 patients. This study was conducted as part of studies related to assessing the mental health status of HCWs in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Overall, in this cross sectional study, 894 HCWs working in 9 general hospitals in Alborz province, Iran, in the field of diagnostic and treatment care of patients with COVID-19 were selected using multistage sampling method. PTSS and its subscales, including intrusion, avoidance, and hyper vigilance were obtained based on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-8 Item validated questionnaire. Information on Stigma's perception among HCWs was also obtained based on a questionnaire adopted from the HIV Stigma Scale. Predictors of PTSS and Stigma's perception among HCWs were assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Overall, 71.4% of the participants were women and 46.9% were front line staff. The prevalence of intrusion, avoidance, and hyper vigilance symptoms was 44.2% (95% CI: 40.8-47.6), 31. 8% (95% CI: 28.8-35.0), and 37.7% (95% CI: 34.5-41.0), respectively. A strong and positive significant correlation was found between stigma score with PTSD total score (coefficient: 0.83) and its components. In multivariate logistic regression model, female gender was associated with intrusion (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.03-2.06) and avoidance (OR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.147-2.417) and working in frontline increased the odds of intrusion (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.06-1.97) and hyper vigilance (OR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.03-1.91). Conclusion: The prevalence of PTSS is high among HCWs during COVID-19 pandemic and it is associated with some demographic characteristics of HCWs. This situation should be considered by health policymakers so that while trying to control the disease, the mental health status of this group of personnel should be given much attention.

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Background Studies have shown that health care workers (HCWs), as front liners of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, are at high risk for psychological symptoms, but few studies have compared these symptoms in infected and non-infected HCWs. This study compares psychological symptoms among these two groups. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 938 HCWs from various medical fields working in the leading general hospitals of Alborz province, Iran, were selected using a multistage sampling method. The participants had contact with COVID-19 patients. Post-traumatic stress disorder-8 (PTSD-8) is a validated questionnaire that we used to evaluate PTSD symptoms along with its subscales, including intrusion, avoidance, and hypervigilance. Also, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 questionnaire was used to assess the severity of the aforementioned conditions in HCWs. Multivariate logistic regression was used to compare psychological symptoms in infected and non-infected HCWs. Results Among 938 included HCWs, 55 had a history of confirmed COVID-19 infection. Prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression, intrusion, hypervigilance, and avoidance among infected HCWs were significantly higher in comparison to non-infected HCWs. In the multivariate logistic model, history of COVID-19 infection among HCWs was associated with a significantly increased risk of anxiety, depression, stress, intrusion, hyper-vigilance, and avoidance. Conclusion The present study showed that the HCWs with COVID-19 infection were at a high risk of displaying psychological symptoms. Therefore, it is also necessary to develop psychological support and interventions for HCWs, especially those who got infected with the virus.

These findings suggest the probable efficacy of pioglitazone as an augmentation therapy in reducing the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

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