Anxiety and Depression in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Cross-sectional Study

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently a global concern, and the psychological impact cannot be overlooked. Our purpose was to evaluate the anxiety and depression in spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) patients during the pandemic and to analyse the influencing factors. We conducted an online questionnaire survey among 307 SCA patients from China and selected 319 healthy people matched by sex and age as the control group. The questionnaire included general information, the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and the self-rating depression scale (SDS). The relevant factors included COVID-19 risk factors, age, sex, body mass index (BMI), educational background, disease course, score on the scale for the assessment and rating of ataxia (SARA), Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS). The proportion of SCA patients with anxiety was 34.9%, and the proportion with depression was 56.7%. The SAS and SDS scores of the SCA patients were significantly higher than those of the control group (SAS: 45.8 ± 10.1 vs. 40.6 ± 8.9, P < 0.01; SDS: 55.1 ± 12.2 vs. 43.6 ± 11.9, P < 0.01). In SCA3, the risk of exposure to COVID-19, educational level, disease course and the severity of ataxia may be factors affecting patients' mental health. More attention should be paid to the mental health of SCA patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.