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SARS-CoV-2 infection and psychological distress : a prospective sero-survey in southern Switzerland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2024

B. Bano*
Affiliation:
1Institute of Public Health, Università della Svizzera italiana
C. Sculco
Affiliation:
2Institute of Public Health, Universita’ della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
G. Piumatti
Affiliation:
3Fondazione Agnelli, Turin
R. Amati
Affiliation:
1Institute of Public Health, Università della Svizzera italiana
M. Purgato
Affiliation:
4Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine, Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
E. Albanese
Affiliation:
1Institute of Public Health, Università della Svizzera italiana
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the mental health of the population that, to some extent, may be due to the neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2. However, evidence is extremely sparse on the prospective association between serological evidence of COVID-19 infection and psychological distress.

Objectives

We aimed to explore the prospective association between seropositivity and psychological distress – assessed by symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress – in the general adult population in southern Switzerland. Further, we investigated whether this association varied over time and between pandemic waves.

Methods

We used data from 305 adults who participated in the Corona Immunitas Ticino (CIT) prospective sero-survey cohort study. We tested the association between serologically confirmed SARS-COV-2 infection at baseline (June–December 2020) and depression, anxiety and stress scores as measured by the DASS-21 scale at three time points between December 2020 and March 2021, also taking into account for sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education level, presence of chronic diseases, smoking, obesity).

Results

In our sample, 84.3% (mean age of 51.30, SD= ± .93) were never infected. Seropositive participants were significantly younger on average (M=46.90, SD= ±2.00, P= .04). At the first follow-up (see Table 1), seropositive participants had higher rates of mild conditions for depression (OR= .64; P= .014) and anxiety (OR= .50; P= .030), than seronegatives. Overall, after the 6-month follow-up, seropositive participants had significantly lower rates of mild conditions for DASS-21 subscales. In addition, prevalence of mild conditions for depression, anxiety and stress decreased more rapidly over time among infected vs. never infected (see Figure 1). Older age and the presence of chronic diseases were associated with mild anxiety (OR= .97; P= .013; OR=3.47; P= .001) and stress (OR= .96; P= .003; OR= 2.56; P= .010).Table 1.

Associations (Odds Ratios) between seropositive immunological status and mental health between December 2020 and March 2021 in Ticino, southern Switzerland (N=305)

DASS-21 defined mild conditionORP valueCI (95%)
Depression0.6410.0140.449 – 0.914
Anxiety0.5020.0300.270 – 0.936
Stress0.7120.1130.468 – 1.083

Note. Generalized estimating equation models results. Co-variates include time, age, gender, chronic diseases, obesity, smoking and education level.

Conclusions

Our results provide new evidence on the association between COVID-19 seropositivity and poor mental health and underline the public health implications of the pandemic because the number of infected individuals largely exceed the 770 million of recorded COVID-19 (symptomatic) cases.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
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