5 research outputs found
Associations between employment changes and mental health: US data from during the COVID-19 pandemic
Objectives: To examine associations of changing employment conditions, specifically
switching to working from home (WFH) or job loss, with mental health, using data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data from 2,301 US adults in employment prior to COVID-19 were collected April 3rd−7th, 2020. Participants reported whether their employment remained unchanged, they were WFH when they had not been before, or they had lost their job due to the pandemic. Outcomes were symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and positive mental health (PMH) assessed using validated questionnaires. Linear regression quantified associations of employment changes with mental health outcomes, controlling for age, sex, race, BMI, smoking status, screen time, physical activity, marital status, chronic conditions, and current COVID-19 containment strategies being followe
High sitting time is a behavioral risk factor for blunted improvement in depression across 8 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in April–May 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has elicited increased sedentary behaviors, decreased
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and worsened mental health, yet the
longitudinal impact of these changes and their inter-relations remains unknown. Our
purpose was to examine associations between changes in self-reported activity
behaviors and mental health over an 8-week period following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Participants from all 50 states and the District of Colombia were recruited through
convenience and snowball sampling at baseline April 3–10, 2020. Prospective data from
2,327 US adults with ≥2 responses (63.8% female; 74.3% response rate) were collected
weekly via online survey for eight consecutive weeks (April 3–June 3, 2020). Primary
exposures were self-reported time spent sitting, viewing screens and in MVPA, with
primary outcomes being depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and positive mental
health (PMH). A significant sitting-by-time interaction (p < 0.05) showed slightly higher
marginal effects for depressive symptoms for the 90th-percentile of sitting time than the
10th-percentile at baseline (5.8 [95% confidence interval = 5.5–6.2] vs. 5.7 [5.4–6.1]),
with the difference magnifying over time (week 8: 3.5 [3.2–3.9] vs. 2.7 [2.4–2.9]). No
other interactions over time were significant. Screen time was negatively associated with
PMH and positively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms (p < 0.05). Sitting
time was negatively associated with PMH (p < 0.05). Rapid changes in sitting patterns
(e.g., due to a pandemic) may have lasting effects on depressive symptoms. Strategies
targeting those most affected (i.e., young adults, females) and/or focused on reducing
sitting time may be critical for preventing long-term mental health effects resulting from
COVID-19 or other large-scale behavior changes in the general population
Associations between change in outside time pre- and post-COVID-19 public health restrictions and mental health: brief research report
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and associated pandemic has resulted
in systemic changes to much of life, affecting both physical and mental health. Time
spent outside is associated with positive mental health; however, opportunities to be
outside were likely affected by the COVID-19 public health restrictions that encouraged
people not to leave their homes unless it was required. This study investigated the
impact of acute COVID-19 public health restrictions on outside time in April 2020, and
quantified the association between outside time and both stress and positive mental
health, using secondary analyses of cross-sectional data from the COVID and Well-being
Study. Participants (n = 3,291) reported demographics, health behaviors, amount of
time they spent outside pre/post COVID-19 public health restrictions (categorized as
increased, maintained, or decreased), current stress (Perceived Stress Scale-4), and
positive mental health (Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale). Outside time
was lower following COVID-19 restrictions (p < 0.001; Cohen’s d = −0.19). Participants
who increased or maintained outside time following COVID-19 restrictions reported lower
stress (p < 0.001, 5.93 [5.74–6.12], Hedges’ g = −0.18; p < 0.001, mean = 5.85
[5.67–6.02], Hedges’ g = −0.21; respectively) and higher positive mental health (p
< 0.001, 24.49 [24.20–24.77], Hedges’ g = 0.21; p < 0.001, 24.78 [24.52–25.03],
Hedges’ g = 0.28) compared to those who decreased outside time. These findings
indicate that there are likely to be negative stress and mental health implications if
strategies are not implemented to encourage and maintain safe time outside during
large-scale workplace and societal changes (e.g., during a pandemic)
Bidirectional associations between depressive and anxiety symptoms and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: dynamic panel models with fixed effects
Background: Understanding the direction and magnitude of mental health-loneliness
associations across time is important to understand how best to prevent and treat mental
health and loneliness. This study used weekly data collected over 8 weeks throughout
the COVID-19 pandemic to expand previous findings and using dynamic panel models
with fixed effects which account for all time-invariant confounding and reverse causation.
Methods: Prospective data on a convenience and snowball sample from all 50 US
states and the District of Colombia (n = 2,361 with ≥2 responses, 63.8% female;
76% retention rate) were collected weekly via online survey at nine consecutive
timepoints (April 3–June 3, 2020). Anxiety and depressive symptoms and loneliness
were assessed at each timepoint and participants reported the COVID-19 containment
strategies they were following. Dynamic panel models with fixed effects examined
bidirectional associations between anxiety and depressive symptoms and loneliness, and
associations of COVID-19 containment strategies with these outcomes.
Results: Depressive symptoms were associated with small increases in both anxiety
symptoms (β = 0.065, 95% CI = 0.022–0.109; p = 0.004) and loneliness (β = 0.019,
0.008–0.030; p = 0.001) at the subsequent timepoint. Anxiety symptoms were
associated with a small subsequent increase in loneliness (β = 0.014, 0.003–0.025;
p = 0.015) but not depressive symptoms (β = 0.025, −0.020–0.070; p = 0.281).
Loneliness was strongly associated with subsequent increases in both depressive
(β = 0.309, 0.159–0.459; p < 0.001) and anxiety (β = 0.301, 0.165–0.436; p < 0.001)
symptoms. Compared to social distancing, adhering to stay-at-home orders or
quarantining were not associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms or loneliness
(both p ≥ 0.095).
Conclusions: High loneliness may be a key risk factor for the development
of future anxiety or depressive symptoms, underscoring the need to combat or prevent loneliness both throughout and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19
containment strategies were not associated with mental health, indicating that
other factors may explain previous reports of mental health deterioration throughout
the pandemic
Joint prevalence of physical activity and sitting time during COVID-19 among US adults in April 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered much of US life with shifts to working-from-home and social distancing changing day-to-day behavior. We aimed to determine the self-reported prevalence of meeting US physical activity guidelines, stratified by sitting time during the early lockdown phase of COVID-19 in US adults. We conducted two cross-sectional internet-based studies April 3rd-May 4th, 2020 in convenience samples of US
adults. Participants self-reported daily sitting time and weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) via questions from the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. A total of 5036 US adults (65.3% women,
30.2% with chronic conditions) provided complete physical activity and sitting time data (80.3% of total). Overall, 42.6% of participants reported sitting for > 8 h/day (95% CI: 41.2%–44.0%) and 72.5% (71.2%–73.7%) reported being either sufficiently (150–300 MVPA minutes) or highly active (>300 min). The greatest proportion of people self-reported being highly active and sitting for > 8 h/day (24.0%; 22.8%-25.2%), followed by being highly active and sitting for 6–8 h/day (20.9%; 19.8%–22.1%). Sitting and activity appeared similar between sexes, while there was evidence of some age differences. For example, more young adults (ages 18–34) appeared to self-report being inactive and more appeared to sit for > 8 h/day compared to older adults. High sitting time was reported by US adults (>40% sitting > 8 h/day) during April 2020. However, high levels of physical activity (>70% meeting guidelines) were also reported. Since physical activity cannot eliminate the negative health effects of sitting, maintaining activity and limiting sitting during periods of large workplace and societal shifts is encouraged