Mental distress of parents with chronic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: A prospective cohort study

Abstract

Objective To-date there has been limited examination of the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in parents who suffer from chronic physical conditions. We aimed to 1) examine whether presence of a chronic disease predicts differential latent distress profile memberships, and 2) assess factors that could predict different distress profiles in the sub-group of parents with a chronic disease. Methods We used a sample of 1618 parents, from the longitudinal COVID-19 Pandemic Adjustment Study, who completed a measure of mental distress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) at 13 data collection points. Distress profiles were assessed with the latent profile analysis. Results We identified four distinct mental distress profile memberships, with the most common membership characterised by very low (48.1%), followed by low (31.9%), moderate (15.7%), and high (4.3%) distress scores. A higher proportion of parents with chronic diseases belonged to profiles experiencing low (34.7% vs. 30.4%), moderate (18.7% vs. 14.1%), and high (5.5% vs. 3.7%) compared to very low (41.2% vs. 51.8%) distress levels than other parents. Residing in Victoria, younger age, lower levels of social support and appraisal of COVID as risk were associated with membership to higher compared to very low distress profiles. Conclusion Our findings highlight the importance of considering chronic disease co-morbidity as an additive risk factor in addressing mental health outcomes of parents during pandemic-like events, since parents with chronic conditions are more vulnerable to experiencing worse mental distress. Future interventions should focus on ways to strengthen social support and provide guidance for managing threat appraisal.

Endometriosis and COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Individual patient data were obtained on 17,799 patients. The four studies not included in the meta-analysis were based on qualitative data [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In addition, four studies [ 3 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] appear in both the meta-analysis on the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in endometriosis patients as well as the meta-analyses on the health impacts of COVID-19 in endometriosis patients.…”

Two Years After the Beginning of COVID-19: Comparing Families Who Had or Did not Have Patients with COVID-19 on Health Beliefs and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

“…Bik-Multanowska et al . ( 67 ) stated that families with chronic illness patients viewed COVID-19 as a risk; thus, individuals in FIM+ who had vulnerable family members exhibited naturally higher OCS at both T1 and T2. In general, these findings shed light on at-risk populations during the pandemic and they underscore the importance of continued support for families with chronic patients long after the pandemic’s stressful period has passed.…”

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health: A Scoping Review

“…The females (65), frontline workers (109,110), people who were ill (41,66), who work long hours (68,153), whose job increased their exposure to COVID-19 (48,74), were living in proximity to COVID-19 cases, (22,45,82), were young or older (4,5,35,62,83,84,107,116,118,(154)(155)(156)(157)(158)(159), had lower economic & education status, weak psychological makeup, and low social supports (142) had higher levels of mental health conditions during the pandemic (7,113,148), which serves as a call to set up protective measures for this population during any interventions.…”