Experiences of infectious diseases cause stressful and traumatic life events, hence, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients could suffer from various mental health problems requiring psychological support services. This study investigates the severity of mental health problems among confirmed COVID-19 patients. From March to November 2020, we collected the data from 118 COVID-19 patients who voluntarily participated in the National Center for Disaster Trauma’s online mental health assessment consisting of self-report scales like Primary Care of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder screen (PC-PTSD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), and P4 Suicidality Screener. For control, 116 other disaster-experienced and 386 non-COVID-19-experienced participants were recruited. The COVID-19 patients showed more severe symptoms including post-traumatic symptoms, depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms than control groups across all four screening scales ( p < 0.001). Regarding high-risk, COVID-19 patients had an increased association with high-risk compared to the comparison groups (PC-PTSD: OR = 24.16, 95% CI = 13.52–43.16 p < 0.001; PHQ-9: OR = 14.45, 95% CI = 8.29–25.19, p < 0.001; GAD-7: OR=20.71, 95% CI = 10.74–39.96, p < 0.001; PHQ-15: OR = 5.65, 95% CI = 3.44–9.25, p < 0.001; P4: OR = 14.67, 95% CI = 8.95–25.07, p < 0.001). This study's results imply that there is a high-risk of overall mental health problems, especially stronger associations of post-traumatic stress symptoms, in COVID-19 patients. These findings help inform practitioners about the psychological responses to COVID-19 experiences and to prepare appropriate interventions and services for the incremental number of confirmed cases.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Anxiety, Depression, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, mental health, severity, Intervention, Symptom, Infectious disease, Symptoms, response, Patient, psychological support, Psychological, group, experience, COVID-19 patients, association, post-traumatic, disaster, COVID-19 patient, PHQ-9, Post-traumatic stress symptoms, Suicidality, control group, 95% CI, confirmed cases, mental health problems, help, GAD-7, center, participant, Practitioner, collected, recruited, events, severe symptom, Generalized, mental health problem, participated, 【제목키워드】 assessment, South Korea,