Background This study was conducted to check anxiety level and mental stress in the 200 confirmed hepatitis C patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) score index was used to measure the anxiety level of HCV-positive patients. BAI score index of different demographic factors such as gender, age, occupation, and education of all the sampled population was calculated. Results The highest BAI score was recorded in people in the age group of 25–45 years (54.5%). Respondents from public sector employees, own businesses, and postgraduates were highly anxious. A significant difference in BAI score was also recorded between male and female respondents as 33.77% of females were at a severe level of anxiety compared to 17.07% of males. Furthermore, quarantined hepatitis C patients had a significantly higher BAI score (39.5) as compared to non-quarantined patients (27.12), and respondents with HCV infection also had a high BAI score of 37.25 compared to healthy individuals (4.1). Most of the respondents were willing to adopt protective measures against COVID-19. Conclusion This study concluded that people with infectious diseases like hepatitis C had high anxiety levels and mental stress in the COVID-19 pandemic and needed psychological aids for better mental health to handle pandemic conditions.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Anxiety, mental health, Pakistan, hepatitis C, 【초록키워드】 pandemic, Stress, COVID-19 pandemic, Infection, Gender, Infectious disease, HCV, Hepatitis, male, female, Patient, age, Psychological, patients, Protective, significant difference, Beck, Chinese, measure, MOST, Mental, inventory, males, respondent, Result, highest, was used, conducted, calculated, significantly higher, conditions, recorded, healthy individual, BAI, demographic factor, was recorded, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19 pandemic, Hepatitis, Patient,