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Psychosocial Impact of Pandemic and State Imposed Lockdown on Caregivers of Patients Presenting with Respiratory Complaints Mimicking COVID-19: A Short-term Follow-up Study
Introduction: Pandemics and subsequent lockdowns affect
mental health of different subgroups of populations. In Coronavirus
Disease-2019 (COVID-19), caregivers of those patients who
have respiratory complaints is one such subgroup which is more
vulnerable to disturbances in mental health, because of the fear
that their patient’s respiratory symptoms could be because of
COVID-19.
Aim: To assess the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 and
subsequent state imposed lockdown on the caregivers of patients
presenting with respiratory complaints and also to evaluate the
effect of relaxation of lockdown after following-up them over a
period of time.
Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study
was conducted in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine,
Government Medical College, Patiala, Punjab, India (tertiary care
institute), from April 2020 to June 2020. Baseline assessment
was done using socio-demographic proforma, lockdown related
questionnaire {3 domains, summed as total score (lockdown)},
COVID-19 related questionnaire {total score (COVID-19)} and
General Health Questionnaire-12-Hindi version (GHQ-12).
Reassessment was done twice i.e., at 11-15 days and 41-45
days after relaxation of lockdown. Quality Of Life (QOL) at first
and second follow-up versus prelockdown times (score A and C)
and first follow-up versus unlockdown (score B) was also noted.
Analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (IBM, SPSS)version 22.0.
Results: Total 65 caregivers were enrolled in the study. Mean
age of the participants was 40.2±11.812 years with maximum
caregivers 25 (41.7%) aged between 31-40 years. Majority
(83.3%) were men. Psychological distress was experienced in 50%
of caregivers at baseline and 23.7% caregivers at first follow-up
(p-value=0.001). Worry for COVID-19 (p-value=0.035), Domain
1 scores (p-value <0.001), Domain 2 scores (p-value=0.003),
Domain 3 scores (p-value=0.001), and Total score lockdown
(p-value <0.001) decreased significantly at first follow-up. Mean
C score was significantly better than mean A score (p-value
<0.001). Baseline psychological distress was significantly more in
those with worry for COVID-19 (p-value=0.018), poorer scores of
domains 1 (p-value=0.005), domains 2 (p-value <0.001), domains
3 (p-value <0.001), total score (lockdown) (p-value <0.001) and
total score (COVID-19) (p-value=0.010). Follow-up psychological
distress was more in those with “worry for COVID-19” (p-value
<0.001), negative thoughts (p-value=0.001), poorer follow-up
scores of three domains, total score (lockdown), mean A, B and
C scores (p-value <0.001).
Conclusion: Caregivers experienced extreme levels of
psychological distress, which decreased, but persisted even
after relaxation in lockdown