Anxiety during COVID-19 among School Going Adolescents of Six Private Schools in Kathmandu Valley: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Psychological health problems are common in adolescent and young adults. The psychological well-being is greatly influenced by stressful environment and the coping mechanism of an individual. The 2019 Coronavirus disease has caused unprecedented morbidity and mortality worldwide owing to its high infectivity and mortality. In addition to these physical manifestations, psychological impact has also been substantial. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study done to find out the prevalence of anxiety disorder and its severity during the COVID-19 pandemic in school going adolescents of Kathmandu valley. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among adolescents from August 15 to September 30, 2020. Two private schools from each district in the Kathmandu valley i.e. Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur were included in the study using convenient sampling. Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional Review Committee (reference no: 1208202007). All data were inserted on Microsoft Excel 2016 and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Among 358 students, 165 (46.1%) at 95% Confidence Interval (40.8-51.2) were found to have anxiety. Out of these patients, 115 (69.7%) had mild, 39 (23.6%) had moderate and 11 (6.7%) had severe anxiety. The mean age was 16.17±1.57 years. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a remarkably higher number of children had symptoms of anxiety disorder. Majority of the children with anxiety had mild form. The study further highlights the need of emotional support to adolescent children during the current ongoing pandemic.