Copyright
©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Mental health status among COVID-19 patients survivors of critical illness in Saudi Arabia: A 6-month follow-up questionnaire study
Abdullah M Alhammad, Namareq F Aldardeer, Abdulaziz Alqahtani, Mohammad H Aljawadi, Bushra Alnefaie, Raghad Alonazi, Mansour Almuqbil, Abdulrahman Alsaadon, Rakan M Alqahtani, Rashid Alballaa, Bader Alshehri, Mohammed I Alarifi, Fahad D Alosaimi
Abdullah M Alhammad, Mohammad H Aljawadi, Mansour Almuqbil, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia
Namareq F Aldardeer, Department of Pharmacy Services, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Jeddah 21499, Saudi Arabia
Abdulaziz Alqahtani, Corporate Department of Pharmacy Services, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia
Bushra Alnefaie, Raghad Alonazi, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia
Abdulrahman Alsaadon, Rakan M Alqahtani, Rashid Alballaa, Bader Alshehri, Mohammed I Alarifi, Department of Critical Care Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia
Fahad D Alosaimi, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Alhammad AM contributed to resources, data curation, visualization, supervision, project administration; Alqahtani A contributed to investigation. Aljawadi MH contributed to formal analysis; Alhammad AM, Aldardeer NF, and Alosaimi FD contributed to conceptualization; Alhammad AM and Aldardeer NF contributed to methodology; Alhammad AM and Alosaimi FD contributed to validation; Alhammad AM and Aldardeer NF contributed to writing-original draft; Alhammad AM, Aljawadi MH, Alnefaie B, Alonazi R, Almuqbil M, Alsaadoon A, Alqahtani RM, Alballaa R, Alshehri B, Alarifi MI, and Alosaimi FD contributed to writing-review and editing.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of King Saud University (reference number: E-19-4182). All methods were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided verbal informed consent to participate and authorized their de-identified data to be used in this publication.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work.
Data sharing statement: The dataset supporting the conclusions of this article is available by request from the corresponding author.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Abdullah M Alhammad, BSc, PharmD, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, King Khalid Road, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia.
aalhammad@ksu.edu.sa
Received: December 22, 2023
Revised: February 11, 2024
Accepted: April 8, 2024
Published online: May 26, 2024
Processing time: 143 Days and 18.4 Hours
BACKGROUND
Psychological assessment after intensive care unit (ICU) discharge is increasingly used to assess patients' cognitive and psychological well-being. However, few studies have examined those who recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is a paucity of data from the Middle East assessing the post-ICU discharge mental health status of patients who had COVID-19.
AIM
To evaluate anxiety and depression among patients who had severe COVID-19.
METHODS
This is a prospective single-center follow-up questionnaire-based study of adults who were admitted to the ICU or under ICU consultation for > 24 h for COVID-19. Eligible patients were contacted via telephone. The patient’s anxiety and depression six months after ICU discharge were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The primary outcome was the mean HADS score. The secondary outcomes were risk factors of anxiety and/or depression.
RESULTS
Patients who were admitted to the ICU because of COVID-19 were screened (n = 518). Of these, 48 completed the questionnaires. The mean age was 56.3 ± 17.2 years. Thirty patients (62.5%) were male. The main comorbidities were endocrine (n = 24, 50%) and cardiovascular (n = 21, 43.8%) diseases. The mean overall HADS score for anxiety and depression at 6 months post-ICU discharge was 11.4 (SD ± 8.5). A HADS score of > 7 for anxiety and depression was detected in 15 patients (30%) and 18 patients (36%), respectively. Results from the multivariable ordered logistic regression demonstrated that vasopressor use was associated with the development of anxiety and depression [odds ratio (OR) 39.06, 95% confidence interval: 1.309–1165.8; P < 0.05].
CONCLUSION
Six months after ICU discharge, 30% of patients who had COVID-19 demonstrated a HADS score that confirmed anxiety and depression. To compare the psychological status of patients following an ICU admission (with vs without COVID-19), further studies are warranted.
Core Tip: The study describes the mental health status among critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors. Long COVID can occur anytime 3-4 wk from the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. In our study, we followed up on the patients 6 months post-discharge. This study is the first to be conducted among Arabic populations in the Middle East using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, validated in the Arabic population. Public health stakeholders and practitioners need to understand some of the psychological consequences of COVID-19 infection, which could be used for future collaborative efforts to optimize patient care.
