Psychometric Analysis for fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and its association with depression in patients with diabetes: A cross sectional study from a Tertiary Care Centre in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

Background and aims To assess the psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 (FCV–19S) scale and to determine its associated factors among the Pakistani patients with diabetes. Methods This observational study was conducted in 24-h helpline service, a department of Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology (BIDE). Study duration was from August to September 2020. The target population was registered adult patients with type 2 diabetes aged >16 years. Baseline demographic details were obtained from hospital management system of BIDE. Forward-backward translation method was used to translate the existing Fear scale (FCV–19S). Symptoms of depressive disorder were assessed through Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9). Results Total of 380 participants with mean age 51.93 ± 12.03 years were contributed in study. Three factors loading and item correlation of fear COVID-19 explained 96% of total variance having unidimensional Cronbach's alpha of 0.881. All demographic indicators that showed significance in univariate model were included in multivariate model. Females had more fear for COVID-19 compared to males (OR = 1.73, 95% CI (1.15–2.6)), whereas current smokers had also showed 4 times more fear than non-smokers (OR = 4.19, 95% CI (1.18–14.83). Depression assessed by PHQ9 showed maximum fear of COVID-19 in participants with moderate depression. Conclusion FCV-19S had adequate psychometric properties for assessing effects of pandemic in people with diabetes attending tertiary care center.

Fear of Covid 19 during the third wave of infection in Norwegian patients with type 1 diabetes

“…As illustrated in “ Fig 3A” , the fear score was higher in women than men. Our findings are in line with findings from Basit et al [ 19 ] who assessed the fear of Covid 19 among a subgroup of Pakistani patients with type 2 diabetes. However, this result is in contrast to the finding of Ahorsu et al, who has developed the fear of Covid 19 scale in the general Iranian population.…”

“…The finding is reasonable as older age was launched as a risk factor for serious disease and bad outcome early in the pandemic. The finding is however in conflict with findings from Basit et al, who found no association between fear scores and age [19], and findings from Lee et al, who assessed the coronavirus anxiety in healthy Turkish people. They found that younger people were more afraid of Covid 19 than older people [20].…”

“…Our findings revealed that smokers had significantly greater fear than former smokers and non-smokers. Basit et al showed similar findings with an odds ratio as high as four between non-smokers and daily smokers in the Pakistani type 2 diabetic population [ 19 ].…”

COVID-19 contagion concern scale (PRE-COVID-19): Validation in Cuban patients with type 2 diabetes

“…A higher perception of risk of contagion tends to lead to better preventive actions and better disease control [ 47 ]. Moreover, the belief about the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 is even more important if we consider that just over 50% of diabetic patients are afraid of COVID-19 [ 20 ]. In general, all items of the five-item model present adequate discrimination parameters.…”

“…Given this scenario, it is important to have valid and reliable measures to determine the psychological impact of COVID-19 in patients with diabetes. However, few instruments have been developed and validated for this population, with only a few measures of fear currently available [ 20 ]. Thus, the Scale of Worry for Contagion of COVID-19 (PRE-COVID-19) was recently developed to assess concern about becoming infected with COVID-19 and the impact that this concern may have on people's daily functioning, specifically on their mood and their ability to perform their daily activities [ 21 ].…”