Anxiety and perceived risk during COVID-19 outbreak

Malhotra, C.; Chaudhry, I.; Ozdemir, S.; Teo, I.; Finkelstein, E. A.

The uncertainty around coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has triggered anxiety among public. We aimed to assess the variation in anxiety and risk perceptions of COVID-19 among adults in Singapore. We administered a web-survey to a panel of residents between 31 March and 14 April 2020. We assessed anxiety using general anxiety disorder (GAD) scale and assessed participants risk perceptions regarding severity of the outbreak. Of the 1,017 participants, 23% reported moderate to severe anxiety (GAD score above 10). A high proportion reported perceived likelihood of ICU admission (46%) and death (30%) upon getting COVID-19. Results from path analysis showed that younger participants, those with chronic conditions, those living with children and low perceived trust in government response to COVID-19 had a significantly higher anxiety mediated by their perceived risk of dying upon getting COVID-19. These results highlight the need for management of anxiety through adequate and effective risk communication for the general public.