Boyraz RK, Şahan E, Boylu ME, Kırpınar İ. Predictors of long-term anxiety and depression in discharged COVID-19 patients: A follow-up study. World J Clin Cases 2022; 10(22): 7832-7843 [PMID: 36158499 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i22.7832]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Rabia Kevser Boyraz, MD, Doctor, Postdoc, Department of Psychiatry, Basaksehir Cam and Sakura Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul 34480, Turkey. rabiasancili@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Prospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2022; 10(22): 7832-7843 Published online Aug 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i22.7832
Predictors of long-term anxiety and depression in discharged COVID-19 patients: A follow-up study
Rabia Kevser Boyraz, Ebru Şahan, Muhammed Emin Boylu, İsmet Kırpınar
Rabia Kevser Boyraz, Department of Psychiatry, Basaksehir Cam and Sakura Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul 34480, Turkey
Ebru Şahan, Department of Psychiatry, Marmara University, İstanbul 34854, Turkey
Muhammed Emin Boylu, İsmet Kırpınar, Department of Psychiatry, Bezmialem Vakıf University, İstanbul 34093, Turkey
Author contributions: Boyraz RK contributed to literature search, figure preparation, study design, data analysis and interpretation, and draft writing; Boylu ME contributed to data collection and interpretation, and statistical analysis; Şahan E contributed to literature search, figure preparation, study design, data analysis and interpretation, and revision and supervision of the manuscript; and Kırpınar İ contributed to supervision of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki Ethical Principles and was approved by the Ethical Committee of the BezmialemVakıf University (2021/414).
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: Additional SPSS data could be shared when requested.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Rabia Kevser Boyraz, MD, Doctor, Postdoc, Department of Psychiatry, Basaksehir Cam and Sakura Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul 34480, Turkey. rabiasancili@yahoo.com
Received: January 25, 2022 Peer-review started: January 25, 2022 First decision: April 18, 2022 Revised: April 21, 2022 Accepted: July 6, 2022 Article in press: July 6, 2022 Published online: August 6, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
The authors designed a prospective study to compare the scores at baseline (hospitalization) of patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on a rating scale measuring anxiety and depression with their scores at the end (after 20-22 mo). This is the longest follow-up study in the literature.
Research motivation
The course of long-term psychiatric symptoms related to COVID-19 is still unknown.
Research objectives
To evaluate how anxiety and depression progress and identify the factors that play a role in this course by long-term follow-up.
Research methods
A large number of patients were reached in a short time using the telepsychiatry method.
Research results
In our study, we observed that anxiety and depression scores increased during the follow-up. The continuation of long-term follow-up studies will contribute to the clarification of the subject.
Research conclusions
The authors found that the mean scores of anxiety and depression increased in the follow-up after recovery in patients who had COVID-19. This confirmed the knowledge that there may be various permanent or temporary mental symptoms related to COVID-19. The authors observed that the symptoms of anxiety and depression secondary to COVID-19 increased while we expected them to decrease in the long follow-up. For this reason, patients with COVID-19 should be examined as soon as possible and necessary treatments should be given.
Research perspectives
More comprehensive follow-up studies for psychiatric symptoms secondary to COVID-19 should be continued and the importance of early intervention should be emphasized.
