Endocrine dysfunction in psychology during social distancing measures.

Javed, N; Khawaja, H; Malik, J; Ahmed, Z

OBJECTIVES To determine the psychological impact of the social distancing measures in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study on the Pakistani population. Informed consent was taken from all the participants. The data was collected through an online questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire, and it was found to be 0.80. The data obtained was analyzed on IBM's statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 26. RESULTS Out of 706 participants, 489 (69.26 %) were males and 217 (30.74 %) were females. The mean age of the participants was 35.24 ± 12.08 years. The majority of the participants were from Punjab (66.00 %).The mean time since quarantine measures had been established was 10.35 ± 5.09 days. The mean total score was 9.08 ± 2.38 points. A majority of the participants (25.64 %) were daily wage workers. t-test was significant when the time of quarantine was compared to the psychological impact. Significant results were also found when gender was compared to the impact. CONCLUSIONS Social distancing measures have an impact on psychology and endocrinology of people in general. The impact can take the shape of long-lasting consequences (Tab. 3, Ref. 19).