Generalized Anxiety Disorder Due to Household Type and Economic Status during COVID-19 Pandemic: Focusing on Gender Differences

Abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine whether household type and economic status affect generalized anxiety disorder during COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019).Methods: This study included 5,615 participants from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2021). Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between household type, economic status and generalized anxiety disorder. Additionally by combining the two variables of interest, we examined the combined effect of sex on household type and economic status.Results: The unemployed in single person-households had 3.4 times more likely to become a high-risk group for generalized anxiety disorder than the employed in multiple person-households (odds ratio, OR = 3.42, 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.99-5.85). In male, the unemployed in single person-households was 7.1 times more likely to be a high-risk group than the employed in multiple person-households (OR = 7.11, 95% CI: 2.49-20.31) and was 2.8 times more likely to be a high-risk group than the reference group in female (OR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.46-5.44).Conclusions: This study confirmed that during COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployed and single person-households tended to be a high-risk group for generalized anxiety disorder and differed by sex and age. Therefore, generalized anxiety disorder policies for single person-households and the unemployed and customized welfare by sex are needed.