Assessment of impact of COVID-19 outbreak & lockdown on mental health status & its associated risk and protective factors in adult Indian population

Saikarthik, J.; Saraswathi, I.; Siva, T.

Nationwide lockdown to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak in India is anticipated to have psychological impact on the population. Our study aims to study the effect of the outbreak & lockdown on mental health status of adult Indian population along with identifying high risk groups. An online survey was conducted during 3rd phase of lockdown gathering details about sociodemographic variables, precautionary measures, awareness and concerns regarding COVID-19 and mental health status through DASS21 questionnaire from 873 adults. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were 18.56%, 25.66%, and 21.99% respectively with majority being mild depression (15.1%) and stress (14.5%) and moderate anxiety (16.3%). Female gender, age <25 years, unemployment, self-business, employed in private sector, lack of formal education, larger household size, parenthood (>2 kids) were associated with increased likelihood of negative mental health. Confidence in physician's ability to diagnose COVID-19 infection, decreased self-perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19, lesser frequency of checking for information on COVID-19 and satisfaction of information received were protective against negative mental health. This landmark study identified the protective and risk factors of mental health during COVID-19 pandemic, to help authorities and mental health workers to strategize and deliver interventional methods to maintain psychosocial wellbeing of the population.