Prevalence and Severity of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress During Pandemic of COVID-19 Among College Students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020 A Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: Coronaviruses are enveloped, positive, single-stranded large ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses that infect various animals including humans which were first investigated by Tyrell and Bynoe in 1966. In Ethiopia, more than 26 million students were affected by school closures due to coronavirus surge. Objectives: The survey was aimed at assessing the prevalence and severity of depression, anxiety, and stress during the pandemic of COVID-19 among college students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 153 college students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from April 27-May 07, 2020. A short version of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DAS 21) scale were used, to measure both the magnitude as well as their severity. Findings: The overall prevalence of depression was 51% (95%CI: 42.8-59.1%), of which 49%, 18.1%, 20.9%, 7.2%, and 4.6% of participants had normal, mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe depression consecutively. The overall prevalence of anxiety was 51.6% (95%CI: 43.4-59.8%), where 11%, 20.9%, 6.5%, and 13.1% of the participants had mild, moderate, severe, and extremely severe anxiety symptoms respectively. The magnitude of stress was 11.1% (95%CI: 6.6-17.2%) of which only 7.8% and 2.6% had mild and moderate stress symptoms. The odds of developing anxiety among the students with a family income of 2001-4999 birr and greater than 10,000 birr had 69.7% (AOR: 0.303; 95%CI: 0.102-0.901) and 79.5% (AOR: 0.205, 95%CI: 0.064-0.653) higher odds as those with a monthly income of less than 2000 birr. Conclusion: A higher prevalence of depression and anxiety was observed from the current study, whilst the level of stress is still higher. A higher monthly income was associated with the development of anxiety during the pandemic of COVID-19. Concerned bodies were recommended to work over the identified problems, besides; large scale study mainly focused on determinants of depression, anxiety, and stress was also emphasized.

Mental Health Disorders During COVID-19 Pandemic Among Southwest Ethiopia University Students: An Institutional-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, the prevalence of anxiety in this study was lower than studies done in Turkey (48.6%) (Ayyildiz et al, 2021), Bangladeshi (40% moderate to severe) (Faisal et al, 2021), Egypt (70.5%) (Ghazawy et al, 2020), and Addis Ababa Ethiopia (51.6%) (Sahile et al, 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, in this study, the prevalence of stress was higher than the study done in the United States of America (26.0%) (Batra et al, 2021), Bangladesh (28.5%) (Hasan et al, 2020), Bench Sheko Zone, Southwest, Ethiopia (32.5%) (Mekonen et al, 2020), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (11.1%) (Sahile et al, 2020), and Gonder, Ethiopia (22.2%) (Ali & Muluneh, 2021). However, this study was lower than the study done in Turkey (45.2%) (Ayyildiz et al, 2021) and Egypt (47.8%) (Ghazawy et al, 2020).…”

“…Mild level of anxiety (17.3%) was higher than a study done in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 11.1% (Sahile et al, 2020), Turkey11.1% (Ayyildiz et al, 2021), and Malaysia 20.4% (Sundarasen et al, 2020) and moderate (14.6%), severe (2.8%), and extremely severe (0.3%) level of anxiety was lower than the study done Ethiopia; 20.9% moderate, 6.5% severe, and 13.1% extremely severe (Sahile et al, 2020), Turkey; 20.3% moderate, 6.8% severe 10.4%, and extremely severe 10.4% (Ayyildiz et al, 2021), Malaysia; 6.6% severe, and 2.8% extremely severe (Sundarasen et al, 2020) and China, 21.3% mild anxiety (Cao et al, 2020).…”

“…This study reveals that the prevalence of depression was consistent with a study done in Italy (27.8%) (Marelli et al, 2020), North Carolina, Taiwan (31.7%) (Fruehwirth et al, 2021), and the United States of America (31.2%) (Batra et al, 2021); but higher than the study done in Bench Sheko zone, Southwest, Ethiopia (21.1%) (Mekonen et al, 2020), and lower than the study done in Italy (72.93%), Turkey (64.6%) (Ayyildiz et al, 2021), Bangladesh (46.9%) (Hasan et al, 2020), Bangladeshi (72%) (Faisal et al, 2021), the United States of America (44%) (Son et al, 2020), Egypt (53.6%) (Ghazawy et al, 2020), Hong Kong (84.7%) (Lai et al, 2020), Gonder, Ethiopia (40.2%) (Ali & Muluneh, 2021) and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (51%) (Sahile et al, 2020). The mild levels of depression were 19.2%, which were similar to studies done in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (18.1%) (Sahile et al, 2020), and Turkey (16.0%) (Ayyildiz et al, 2021). The moderate and severe levels of depression were 10.6% and 0.3%, respectively, which was lower than the study done in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 20.9% moderate, 7.2% severe, and 4.6% extremely severe (Sahile et al, 2020) and Turkey, which revealed 26.8% moderate and 10.7% severe (Ayyildiz et al, 2021).…”

“…The overall psychological impact among college students was 16.2%, and the prevalence of depression was 77.2%, anxiety 71.8%, and stress 48.5% in Dessie Town, northern, Ethiopia (Tadesse et al, 2020), and the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and stress-related to home quarantine was 51.6%, 51.0%, and 11.1%, respectively, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Sahile et al, 2020).…”