Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and anxiety: a longitudinal study in 287 Brazilians

• Autor(a) principal: Souza,Andressa Caroline Martins de
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Manoel,Agnes Zanotto, Manoel,Poliana Zanotto, Weiler,Rafaela Angeli, Kimura,Renata Namie Yoshioka, Skare,Thelma Larocca
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-42302021000500516
• topic: COVID-19; Pandemics; Quarantine; Anxiety

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress in a sample of Brazilians and their relationship with sex, age, and work situation, and compare if these symptoms change with 8 weeks of quarantine. METHODS: Online survey to collect epidemiological data and apply the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Eight weeks later, the researchers requested the same requirements to complete the BAI and IES-R and compare the results. RESULTS: The sample of 287 answered the first and second questionnaires, being 72.8% women, with a median age of 22 years. In the first interview, the median BAI was 12 (7–19) and the median IES-R was 27.0 (15–40); in the second, the median BAI was 11 (6–22) and the IES-R was 30 (15–41) with p<00001 and 0.09, respectively. Anxiety levels were worse in females (p<0.0001 for both BAI and IES-R) and in those who worked/studied in the area of health (p=0.001 for BAI and 0.01 for IES-R). There was a negative correlation between age and anxiety (p<0.0001 for BAI and IES-R). CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence of anxiety that lowered after 8 weeks were found. Anxiety was worse in females, in younger people, and in those who worked/studied in the area of health.