Factors associated with stress, anxiety, and depression during social distancing in Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of clinical signs and symptoms of severe/extreme stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as their associated factors, among Brazilians during social distancing. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in April/May 2020 with 3,200 Brazilians over 18 years old. Respondents’ sociodemographic and clinical data were collected using an online questionnaire, which also included the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) to assess emotional symptoms. Unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios and their respective 95% confidence intervals were estimated using Poisson regression models with robust variance. RESULTS: Our results show the prevalence of severe/extreme stress was 21.5%, anxiety 19.4%, and depression 21.5%. In the final model, sociodemographic, clinical, and Covid-19-related factors were associated with severe/extreme stress, anxiety, and depression in Brazilians during social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We found the main factors associated with severe/extreme depression to be young women, brown, single, not religious, sedentary, presenting reduced leisure activities, history of anxiety and depression, increased medication use, and Covid-19 symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study may help develop and systematically plan measures aimed to prevent, early identify, and properly manage clinical signs and symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic. DESCRIPTORS: Mental Disorders, epidemiology. Stress, Psychological. Social Isolation. Coronavirus Infections. Health Surveys.

Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in Brazilian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Predictors and association with life satisfaction, psychological well-being and coping strategies

“…The results indicate that the majority of undergraduates surveyed presented mild to severe symptoms of depression (60.5%), anxiety (52.5%) and stress (57.5%). Compared with other studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the same instrument, the percentages of the present study were higher than those found in the Brazilian adult population for depression (21.5%, 46.4% and 54.5%), anxiety (19.4%, 39.7% and 41.1%) and stress (21.5%, 42.2% and 45.7%) [ 7 , 9 , 10 ], and in the population of 8 countries (China, Spain, Italy, Iran, USA, Turkey, Nepal, Denmark) for depression (14.6% to 48.3%) and anxiety (6.3% to 50.9%) [ 5 ].…”

“…During the period of data collection, most respondents had restarted academic activities remotely (79.8%) about 1 or 2 months ago (August 17, 2020), after the interruption of the school year. Thus, the high prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms also suggests the additional psychological impact of the pandemic on students due to repercussions on education, such as adaptation to remote classes, as assessed in other studies [ 10 , 15 , 16 , 25 ].…”

“…The higher percentages of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in surveyed undergraduates in relation to the Brazilian population may be related to the fact that the data collection of the present research occurred in a more advanced period of the pandemic in 2020 than the data collection of the cited studies [ 7 , 9 , 10 ].…”

“…Studies in the Brazilian population during the pandemic suggest that being a woman, younger and having a chronic disease were among the predictors of severe anxiety symptoms [ 10 ] and were associated with depression and anxiety symptoms [ 36 ]. Being female and younger were among the predictors for severe symptoms of depression and stress [ 10 ] and were associated with greater severity of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress [ 8 ].…”

“…Studies have shown symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in the population of different countries [ 5 , 6 ]. In Brazil, studies indicate the presence of such symptoms [ 7 – 10 ], in addition to reports of frequent feelings of sadness/depression and nervousness/anxiety, in 40.4% and 52.6% of the Brazilian population, respectively [ 11 ].…”