The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown has taken the world by storm. This study examines its impact on the anxiety level of university students in Malaysia during the peak of the crisis and the ...pertinent characteristics affecting their anxiety. A cross-sectional online survey, using Zung's self-rating anxiety questionnaire was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Out of the 983 respondents, 20.4%, 6.6%, and 2.8% experienced minimal to moderate, marked to severe, and most extreme levels of anxiety. Female gender (OR = 21.456, 95% CI = 1.061, 1.998,
= 0.020), age below 18 years (OR = 4.147, 95% CI = 1.331, 12.918,
= 0.014), age 19 to 25 (OR = 3.398, 95% CI = 1.431, 8.066,
= 0.006), pre-university level of education (OR = 2.882, 95% CI = 1.212, 6.854,
= 0.017), management studies (OR = 2.278, 95% CI = 1.526, 3.399,
< 0.001), and staying alone (OR = 2.208, 95% CI = 1.127, 4.325,
= 0.021) were significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety. The main stressors include financial constraints, remote online teaching and uncertainty about the future with regard to academics and career. Stressors are predominantly financial constraints, remote online learning, and uncertainty related to their academic performance, and future career prospects.
Zung's Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) is a norm-referenced scale which enjoys widespread use a screener for anxiety disorders. However, recent research (Dunstan DA and Scott N, Depress Res Treat ...2018:9250972, 2018) has questioned whether the existing cut-off for identifying the presence of a disorder might be lower than ideal.
The current study explored this issue by examining sensitivity and specificity figures against diagnoses made on the basis of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) in clinical and community samples. The community sample consisted of 210 participants recruited to be representative of the Australian adult population. The clinical sample consisted of a further 141 adults receiving treatment from a mental health professional for some form of anxiety disorder.
Mathematical formulas, including Youden's Index and the Receiver Operating Characteristics Curve, applied to positive PHQ diagnoses (presence of a disorder) from the clinical sample and negative PHQ diagnoses (absence of a disorder) from the community sample suggested that the ideal cut-off point lies between the current and original points recommended by Zung.
Consideration of prevalence rates and of the potential costs of false negative and false positive diagnoses, suggests that, while the current cut-off of 36 might be appropriate in the context of clinical screening, the original raw score cut-off of 40 would be most appropriate when the SAS is used in research.
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has attracted global attention. During the lockdown period of COVID-19, follow-up of many patients with chronic disease had been interrupted, which ...brought severe challenges to better management of their disease. This study aimed at exploring the change of illness, daily life, and psychological responses during the COVID-19 pandemic among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.
A total of 612 patients were enrolled in this study; 282 patients were categorized into the CKD stage 1-2 group and 330 patients were categorized into the CKD stage 3-5 group. Among two groups, 168 (27.5%) and 177 (28.9%) patients were female with a median age of 42 and 45, respectively. The study was conducted by collecting the questionnaires in five nephrology centers. The questionnaire consisted of assessment of anxiety by using the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and the influences of COVID-19, which included basic demographic data, the influences of COVID-19 on illness and daily life, as well as the patients' psychological responses during the epidemic.
A total of 612 patients were included and divided into two groups according to eGFR. Ninety-six patients (34%) in the CKD stage 1-2 group and 141 patients (42.7%) in the CKD stage 3-5 group had reduced their follow-up frequency (
= 0.031). More patients with CKD stages 1-2 consulted online (25.9%),
= 0.005. Besides, patients in the CKD stage 3-5 group tended to be more anxious about follow-up (
= 0.002), fearful of being infected with COVID-19 (
= 0.009), and more likely to feel symptoms getting worse (
= 0.006). The standard scores of SAS were 48.58 ± 7.082 and 51.19 ± 5.944 in the CKD stage 1-2 group and the CKD stage 3-5 group, respectively (
< 0.001). There were significant differences in the severity of anxiety (
= 0.004).
COVID-19 had a greater impact on patients with CKD stages 3-5 than those with stages 1-2 in terms of illness, daily life, and psychological disorder. Patients with CKD stages 3-5 were more anxious during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To compare and evaluate the clinical effects on patients with poststroke insomnia of various acupuncture and acupuncture-related therapies.
In order to analyze the direct and indirect evidence from ...related studies, we used network meta-analysis (NMA). In order to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture and related therapies in the treatment of poststroke insomnia, 3 English and 4 Chinese databases were searched. After 2 researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the information, and assessed the probability of bias in the included studies, the data was analyzed using Stata15.0 and WinBUGS1.4.3 software.
Based on the existing data, the pros and cons of different acupuncture-related therapies are compared extensively, the effectiveness of different acupuncture-related therapies is ranked compared to drugs with hypnotic effect in poststroke insomnia care, and the best methods or combinations of acupuncture intervention are summarized.
This study will provide new evidence for the safety and effectiveness of acupuncture-related therapies in the treatment of poststroke insomnia, and may be helpful for clinicians, poststroke insomnia patients, and clinical guideline makers to choose the optimal combination of acupuncture for the treatment of poststroke insomnia.
INPLASY202120028.
COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) has spread globally and is highly infectious, causing psychological disturbances such as anxiety, depression, or both. Pregnant women, as a vulnerable population, ...need further attention. This study aims to evaluate the psychological impact of pregnant women during COVID-19 to constitute base data for solution guidance. Using a self-designed questionnaire, self-rated anxiety scale (SAS), and self-rated depression scale (SDS), we conducted a web-based survey on 1160 pregnant women from February 20 to April 30, 2020. The prevalence of anxiety and depression during pregnancy was shown to be 12.93% and 31.21%, respectively. Besides, younger age, housewives, lower education level, and early pregnancy all contributed to psychological disturbance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed significant variations in cognitive and behavioral responses based on the levels of the COVID-19 pandemic concerns, perceptions of life impacts and family concerns, preparation of personal protection equipment and motherhood, and the need for psychological counseling (P < 0.05). Regarding their primary concerns, 73.2% of the participants worried about the health and safety of childbirth. And 90.6% of respondents anticipated scheduling prenatal appointments to avoid crowds. Pregnant women are susceptible to anxiety/depression during the COVID-19 outbreak, necessitating immediate psychological care and intervention.
Background
Suboptimal health status (SHS) is a reversible state between ideal health and illness and it can be effectively reversed by risk prediction, disease prevention, and personalized medicine ...under the global background of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM) concepts. More and more Chinese nurses have been troubled by psychological symptoms (PS). The correlation between PS and SHS is unclear in nurses. The purpose of current study is to investigate the prevalence of SHS and PS in Chinese nurses and the relationship between SHS and PS along with predisposing factors as well as to discuss the feasibility of improving health status and preventing diseases according to PPPM concepts in Chinese nurses.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted with the cluster sampling method among 9793 registered nurses in Foshan city, China. SHS was evaluated with the Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25). Meanwhile, the PS of depression and anxiety were evaluated with Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) self-assessment questionnaires. The relationship between PS and SHS in Chinese nurses was subsequently analyzed.
Results
Among the 9793 participants, 6107 nurses were included in the final analysis. The prevalence of SHS in the participants was 74.21% (4532/6107) while the symptoms of depression and anxiety were 47.62% (2908/6107) and 24.59% (1502/6107) respectively. The prevalence of SHS in the participants with depression and anxiety was significantly higher than those without the symptoms of depression (83.3% vs 16.7%,
P
< 0.001) and anxiety (94.2% vs 5.8%,
P
< 0.0001). The ratio of exercise habit was significantly lower than that of non-exercise habit (68.8% vs 78.4%,
P
< 0.001) in SHS group.
Conclusions
There is a high prevalence of SHS and PS in Chinese nurses. PS in Chinese nurses are associated with SHS. Physical exercise is a protective factor for SHS and PS so that the exercise should be strongly recommended as a valuable preventive measure well in the agreement with PPPM philosophy. Along with SDS and SAS, SHSQ-25 should also be highly recommended and applied as a novel predictive/preventive tool for the health measures from the perspectives of PPPM in view of susceptible population and individual screening, the predisposition to chronic disease preventing, personalization of intervention, and the ideal health state restoring.
This study addresses the profile of at-risk subjects whose long-term psychological impact of presymptomatic testing (PST) for Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (FAP) TTR V30M is negative. The sample ...consisted of 177 subjects, aged over 20 years that were 50% at-risk for FAP, and performed the PST at least three years ago. Participants were contacted by mail, one time only, to answer the sociodemographic questionnaire and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale of Zung (SAS), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). From the sample, 22.6% (BSI), 16.4% (SAS), and 9% (BDI) subjects presented negative psychological impact, after having performed the PST for more than 3 years. Subjects with clinically significant values in BSI, SAS, and BDI have an overlapping profile concerning the total sample, except regarding age, since clinically depressed subjects have a higher mean age. Married women or living in unmarried unions, aged between 30 and 45 years, employed, carriers, and having performed the PST test for 6-7 years are a group raising higher concern and requiring a more active role with respect to the psychological impact of the PST for FAP. The role of the clinical and health psychologist with these patients is critical in the adjustment to the presymptomatic test result as well as in adherence to the available treatments conducive to a better quality of life, in carriers.
To compare the post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS) and none post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (NPI-IBS) clinically and experimentally.
From May 2013 to January 2015, eighty-nine ...patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)were recruited in the internal department of the affiliated hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The clinical data were collected for all the patients, and a blood sample was collected to detect the level of C-reactive protein (CRP) and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (IFABP), an investigation questionnaire of gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS) and self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) were carried out to evaluate the gastrointestinal function and anxiety status.
In the study, forty-eight patients were included in PI-IBS group and 41 in Non-PI-IBS group. There was no significant difference in age, gender and GSRS between the two groups (p>0.05). In PI-IBS group 70.8% patients presented with the primary symptom of diarrhea and 60.4% presented with a SAS scores over 50, but in Non-PI-IBS group, the values were only 19% (p<0.05) and 34.1% (p<0.05). The level of IFABP and CRP were significantly higher in PI-IBS group than those in Non-PI-IBS group (p<0.05).
The PI-IBS may be different from Non-PI-IBS in mechanism and should be treated using different strategies.
While the gold standard for the diagnosis of mental disorders remains the structured clinical interview, self-report measures continue to play an important role in screening and measuring progress, ...as well as being frequently employed in research studies. Two widely-used self-report measures in the area of depression and anxiety are Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Self Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). However, considerable confusion exists in their application, with clinical cut-offs often applied incorrectly. This study re-examines the credentials of the Zung scales by comparing them with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) in terms of their ability to predict clinical diagnoses of anxiety and depression made using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ).
A total sample of 376 adults, of whom 87 reported being in receipt of psychological treatment, completed the two-page version of the PHQ relating to depression and anxiety, together with the SDS, the SAS and the DASS.
Overall, although the respective DASS scales emerged as marginally stronger predictors of PHQ diagnoses of anxiety and depression, the Zung indices performed more than acceptably in comparison. The DASS also had an advantage in discriminative ability. Using the current recommended cut-offs for all scales, the DASS has the edge on specificity, while the Zung scales are superior in terms of sensitivity. There are grounds to consider making the Zung cut-offs more conservative, and doing this would produce comparable numbers of 'Misses' and 'False Positives' to those obtained with the DASS.
Given these promising results, further research is justified to assess the Zung scales ability against full clinical diagnoses and to further explore optimum cut-off levels.
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