Influencing factors of anxiety and depression of discharged COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China

OBJECTIVES: This study is intended to assess the prevalence of depression and anxiety in individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 and been discharged from hospital (RD hereafter) in Wuhan, China, and to explore the factors associated with these mental disorders. METHODS: Participants of this study were the RD who were infected at the beginning of the outbreak from 13 communities in Jianghan District of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China by convenience sampling in mid-2021. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Short Version of COVID-19 Stigma Scale, the Peace of Mind Scale, the Resilience Style Questionnaire, and the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire were used to collect relevant information of the participants. Descriptive analyses, Pearson correlation analysis, and logistic regression analysis were used to describe and analyze the data and to examine the factors associated with the mental health status of this population. RESULTS: In total, we recruited 1601 participants from 3059 COVID-19 patients, and 1541 participants completed the questionnaire survey, with a response rate of 96.25%. Finally, 1297 participants met the inclusion and exclusion criteria in this study, of whom 28.8% and 37.9% reported mild to severe levels of anxiety and depression symptoms. Perceived better mental health status during hospitalization, higher frequency of alcohol use per week, peace of mind, higher education level, and resilience were negatively associated with anxiety, while stigma and history of psychological or emotional counseling before infection was positively associated with anxiety. More severe clinical classification of COVID-19 and stigma (AOR = 1.057, P<0.001) were both positively associated with depression, while perceived better mental health status during hospitalization (AOR = 0.564, P<0.001), higher frequency of alcohol use per week (AOR = 0.462, P = 0.004), peace of mind (AOR = 0.857, P<0.001), and social support (AOR = 0.972, P = 0.034) were negatively associated with depression. CONCLUSIONS: Tailored interventions on reducing stigma, enhancing mindfulness and social support should be taken into account to alleviate anxiety and depression among RD.