Association between mental health trajectories and somatic symptoms following a second lockdown in Israel: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Objectives To identify mental health prospective trajectories before and after a second lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic and their associations with somatic symptoms. Design Prospective Study. Setting Population-based study drawn from a probability-based internet panel of over 100 000 Israelis. Participants Adults aged 18 years or more, representative of the adult Israeli population. The participants were measured at two time points (time 1 (T1) pre-second lockdown N=1029; response rate=76.17%; time 2 (T2) post-second lockdown N=764; response rate=74.24%). Main outcome measures Trajectories of anxiety and adjustment disorder based on clinical cut-off score for probable diagnoses across T1-T2, somatic symptoms at T2. The four trajectories: stable-low, (no probable diagnosis), stable-high (stable probable diagnosis), exacerbation (no probable diagnosis at T1, probable diagnosis at T2), recovery (probable diagnosis at T1, no probable diagnosis at T2). Results Three anxiety trajectories predicted probable somatic symptoms (stable-high OR=6.451; exacerbation OR=5.379; recovery OR=2.025) compared with the stable-low trajectory. The three adjustment disorder trajectories also predicted somatic symptoms (stable-high OR=4.726; exacerbation OR=6.419; recovery OR=4.666) compared with the stable-low trajectory. Conclusions Our data show elevated somatic symptoms among those whose mental health trajectories were poor, exacerbated and those who recovered following the second lockdown. The presentation of somatic symptoms may mask psychological vulnerabilities, even among those who appear to have recovered from the stressor. This indicates that lockdown may be a double-edged sword and should be carefully administered given these populations vulnerabilities.

Mental Health and Loneliness in University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: A Longitudinal Study

“…Regarding the dependent variables anxiety and depressive symptoms, clinically relevant symptom levels at time 1 and time 2 were determined using the established cutoff score of 10 of the GAD-7 and PHQ-8 (58,60). To adjust trajectories during the pandemic [e.g., (75)], the cut-off scores at time 1 and time 2 were used, resulting in four potential paths for anxiety and depression: 1) the asymptomatic, 2) the worsened, 3) the symptomatic, and 4) the improved trajectory. To further explore how mental health changed during the pandemic, two-way repeated measures ANOVAs with loneliness as the dependent variable were performed with the factors time and trajectory groups for depression and anxiety.…”

Vaccine hesitancy prospectively predicts nocebo side-effects following COVID-19 vaccination

“…Participants were recruited via iPanel, a probability-based panel with over 100,000 adult members who consented to be contacted about surveys 32 , 45 . This panel conducts studies according to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines for observational studies (STROBE).…”

The effect of different degrees of lockdown and self-identified gender on anxiety, depression and suicidality during the COVID-19 pandemic: Data from the international COMET-G study.

“…Although there are no reliable assessments of clinical cases of depression, anxious and depressive symptomatology are reported to increase with 30-50% of subjects experiencing significant elevations (Al-Ajlouni et al, 2020;Antiporta et al, 2021;Czeisler et al, 2021;De Pietri and Chiorri, 2021;Fiorillo and Gorwood, 2020;Jacques-Avino et al, 2020;Kakaje et al, 2021;Khubchandani et al, 2021;Killgore et al, 2021;Kopilas et al, 2021;Mary-Krause et al, 2021;Msherghi et al, 2021;Pandey et al, 2020;Pieh et al, 2020;Ramiz et al, 2021;Simon et al, 2021;Surina et al, 2021;Vrublevska et al, 2021b). Somatoform symptoms are also prevalent (Ben-Ezra et al, 2021;Mary-Krause et al, 2021). The increase concerned more the internalizing and to a much less extend the interpersonal symptoms (Castellini et al, 2021).…”

“…Currently there is a great number of empirical data papers on the possible effect of lockdown on mental health, but no reliable assessments of clinical cases of depression exist. Reports suggest that up to half of the population might experience significant elevations in anxiety and depressive feelings (Al-Ajlouni et al, 2020;Antiporta et al, 2021;Czeisler et al, 2021;De Pietri and Chiorri, 2021;Fiorillo and Gorwood, 2020;Jacques-Avino et al, 2020;Kakaje et al, 2021;Khubchandani et al, 2021;Killgore et al, 2021;Kopilas et al, 2021;Mary-Krause et al, 2021;Msherghi et al, 2021;Pandey et al, 2020;Pieh et al, 2020;Ramiz et al, 2021;Simon et al, 2021;Surina et al, 2021;Vrublevska et al, 2021b) with the symptomatology being mixed and complex (Ben-Ezra et al, 2021;Di Blasi et al, 2021;Mary-Krause et al, 2021) and many individuals experiencing a severe form of psychopathology (Al-Ajlouni et al, 2020;Pieh et al, 2020) and high levels of suicidal ideation (Bell et al, 2021;Czeisler et al, 2021;Efstathiou et al, 2021;Every-Palmer et al, 2020;Killgore et al, 2021). Females seems to be at a higher risk (Andersen et al, 2021a;Cruyt et al, 2021;De Pietri and Chiorri, 2021;Di Giuseppe et al, 2020;Fiorillo and Gorwood, 2020;Hamama-Raz et al, 2021;Jacques-Avino et al, 2020;…”