The psychological impact of COVID-19 among newly diagnosed patients: COVID Impact study

COVID-19 has had adverse psychological impact on the general population. Most surveys published till date are online questionnaires targeting general population/health care providers. There is lack of data on the psychological impact of disease on newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients.

The study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital, actively involved in the management of COVID patients. Newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients who had presented to the outpatient COVID care clinic were interviewed face to face by an interviewer using 'Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R)', a validated and universally accepted research questionnaire.

Most of the respondents were males (83.2%), mean age: 40.8 years. 31.7% were graduates and 58.5% were actively employed. Fever (57.4%), cough (37.6%), and progressive breathlessness (08.9%) were the three most common clinical symptoms. The mean score on 'IES-R' was 31.8. 30.7% respondents had suffered 'severe' psychological impact, 30.7% had 'minimal' impact. 19.8% and 1.8% had 'mild' and 'moderate' psychological impact respectively. On linear regression analysis, increasing age had statistically significant corelation with increasing scores on 'IES-R scale' (p = 0.004). Educational qualifications of the patient had negative corelation (Pearson correlation=- 0.117) while none of the clinical parameters had any statistically significant correlation with the patients' psychological impact scores.

COVID-19 patients are at an increased risk of suffering from disease-related adverse psychological impact. Certain risk groups especially like the elderly need close follow-up for early diagnosis and management. Future studies may be required to assess and manage 'post-traumatic stress disorder' that may arise in the aftermath of pandemic.