Original title: Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in US Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Researchers compared two surveys of US adults: one from before COVID-19 and one from the pandemic’s first weeks. They used a questionnaire score to group symptoms from mild to severe. Every symptom category was more common in the pandemic survey; severe symptoms were reported by 5.1% of people, compared with 0.7% before. During the pandemic, symptoms were also linked with lower income, little savings, and more stressors.
Imagine checking how many people in a town are carrying heavy grocery bags before and during a storm. The storm does not affect everyone equally: people with less room at home or more errands may have a harder time. In this paper, the surveys are the two checks, depression symptoms are the burden being counted, and limited money or more stressors mark people carrying more of it.
The findings point to a heavier burden of depression symptoms during the pandemic, especially among people with fewer financial resources or more stressors. That matters to communities planning mental health support, because the people facing the most strain may need the most help.
The abstract reports a comparison between different surveys taken before and during the pandemic, so it does not establish that COVID-19 or its policies caused the increase. The during-pandemic survey covers a short period in early 2020, and the abstract does not report later trends.
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Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in US Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic — Catherine K. Ettman, Salma M. Abdalla, Gregory H. Cohen et al. — JAMA Network Open — doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19686
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.