Factors associated with hopelessness, depression and anxiety in the Honduran-Central America population during the COVID-19 pandemic

Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat

The COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, has had direct and indirect impacts on individuals, many of which have been negative. While a large body of research has examined the impacts of COVID-19 on people's lives, there is little evidence about how COVID-19 affects decision-making broadly. Emotional responses to COVID-19-related stressors, such as illness and income loss, provide a pathway for these stressors to affect decision-making. In this study, we examine linkages between exposure to COVID-19-related stressors-focusing on temporally specific local case counts and loss of income due to the pandemic-and decisions to access information about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), another critically important health issue. COVID-19 constitutes a natural experiment in that people's exposure to stressors does not result from those individuals' current decisions. Using a nationally representative survey with 1223 respondents in December 2020, we linked the temporally specific COVID-19 cases and income loss experienced by participants to an increased likelihood of feeling hopeless. Higher feelings of hopelessness led to a higher probability of avoiding information about AMR. A mediation analysis confirms that emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors significantly increase information avoidance about an unrelated, but important health issue. Our results suggest that large-scale crises, like COVID-19 and climate change, may diminish action on other important health issues facing humanity.

Prevalence and factors associated with long COVID and mental health status among recovered COVID-19 patients in southern Thailand

Mental health disorders have become a growing public health concern among individuals recovering from COVID-19. Long COVID, a condition where symptoms persist for an extended period, can predict psychological problems among COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of long COVID and mental health status among Thai adults who had recovered from COVID-19, identify the association between the mental health status and long COVID symptoms, and investigate the risk factors associated with the correlation between long COVID and mental health outcomes. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 939 randomly selected participants in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, southern Thailand. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 was used to investigate mental health symptoms, and a checklist comprised of thirteen common symptoms was used to identify the long COVID among participants. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the risk factors associated with mental health status and long COVID symptoms among participants. Among the 939 participants, 104 (11.1%) had depression, 179 (19.1%) had anxiety, and 42 (4.8%) were stressed. A total of 745 participants (79.3%) reported experiencing at least one symptom of long COVID, with fatigue (72.9%, SE±0.02), cough (66.0%, SE±0.02), and muscle pain (54.1%, SE±0.02) being the most frequently reported symptoms. All long COVID symptoms were significantly associated with mental health status. Shortness of breath, fatigue, and chest tightness were the highest risk factors for mental health status among COVID-19 patients. The final multivariable model indicated that female patients (OR = 1.89), medical history (OR = 1.92), and monthly income lower than 5,000 Thai baht (OR = 2.09) were associated with developing long COVID symptoms and mental health status (all p<0.01). This study provides valuable insights into the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on mental health and enhances understanding of the mechanisms underlying the condition for predicting the occurrence of mental health issues in Thai COVID-19 patients.