Mental health status of people isolated due to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

By H. Jeong, H. Yim, Yeong-Jun Song, M. Ki, J. Min, Juhee Cho, J. Chae. Epidemiology and Health, 2016

987 citations recorded by the source corpus.

OBJECTIVES Isolation due to the management of infectious diseases is thought to affect mental health, but the effects are still unknown. We examined the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and anger in persons isolated during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) epidemic both at isolation period and at four to six months after release from isolation. We also determined risk factors associated with these symptoms at four to six months. METHODS Of 14,992 individuals isolated for 2-week due to having contact with MERS patients in 2015, when MERS was introduced to Korea, 1,692 individuals were included in this study. Anxiety symptoms were evaluated with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale and anger was assessed with the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory at four to six months after release from isolation for MERS. RESULTS Of 1,692 who came in contact with MERS patients, 1,656 were not diagnosed with MERS. Among 1,656, anxiety symptoms showed 7.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.3 to 8.9%) and feelings of anger were present in 16.6% (95% CI, 14.8 to 18.4%) during the isolation period. At four to six months after release from isolation, anxiety symptoms were observed in 3.0% (95%CI, 2.2 to 3.9%). Feelings of anger were present in 6.4% (95% CI, 5.2 to 7.6%). Risk factors for experiencing anxiety symptoms and anger at four to six months after release included symptoms related to MERS during isolation, inadequate supplies (food, clothes, accommodation), social networking activities (email, text, Internet), history of psychiatric illnesses, and financial loss. CONCLUSIONS Mental health problems at four to six month after release from isolation might be prevented by providing mental health support to individuals with vulnerable mental health, and providing accurate information as well as appropriate supplies, including food, clothes, and accommodation.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Modeling and Simulation, Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/344057fa7bef9619bf39e1d681ab054048949e75

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Citations in the corpus

• Mental health outcomes of quarantine and isolation for infection prevention: a systematic umbrella review of the global evidence (2020, background): “This study found that the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and feelings of anger was 7.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.3 to 8.9) and 16.6% (95% CI, 14.8 to 18.4), respectively [14].”
• Psychological impact of the 2015 MERS outbreak on hospital workers and quarantined hemodialysis patients (2018, background): “Those studies that are available have analyzed factors related to symptoms of anxiety and anger after home quarantine during the MERS outbreak [8] and reported that individuals experienced increased anxiety with a higher degree of knowledge about the disease during the initial stages of the MERS out”
• The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health (2020, background): “Care providers must be aware of functional neurological symptom disorders after stressful community events particularly in individuals with prior psychiatric diagnoses (Jeong et al., 2016).”
• Cognitive Reappraisal and the Association Between Perceived Stress and Anxiety Symptoms in COVID-19 Isolated People (2020, background): “Researchers have found that isolated people who perceived stress, compared with those who do not, have challenges developing anxiety symptoms (50).”
• Comparison of Prevalence and Associated Factors of Anxiety and Depression Among People Affected by versus People Unaffected by Quarantine During the COVID-19 Epidemic in Southwestern China (2020, neutral): “South Korea [28] .”
• Dealing with sleep problems during home confinement due to the COVID‐19 outbreak: Practical recommendations from a task force of the European CBT‐I Academy (2020, background): “…the current situation did show that younger age and female gender predicted a negative psychological impact of quarantine (Taylor, Agho, Stevens, & Raphael, 2008) while, in another study, a history of psychiatric illness predicted anxiety and anger 4–6 months after quarantine (Jeong et al., 2016).”