The Immediate and Long-term Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients with Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: A One-year Follow-up Study

Overview

Journal Psychiatry Res

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2021 Nov 27

PMID 34837883

Citations 9

Authors

Jinmin Liao

Lijun Liu

Xiaoyu Fu

Yingying Feng

Wei Liu

Weihua Yue

Jun Yan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Several recent publications have revealed that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients were adversely affected during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); however, how long this negative impact will last is unclear. Our study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on OCD patients after one year. Online questionnaires were administered, and clinical interviews were conducted to assess OCD symptoms, depression, anxiety, information about COVID-19 and mental resilience at baseline (1 December 2019-1 January 2020), during early COVID-19 (26 February-25 March 2020) and at the one-year follow-up (26 February-25 March 2021). A total of 110 OCD patients were enrolled. Our findings showed that OCD, depressive and anxiety symptoms worsened during early COVID-19, and the negative impact persisted at the one-year follow-up. Multivariate analysis showed that female gender, concern about COVID-19 and OCD symptom severity at baseline were risk factors for exacerbation of OCD symptoms during early COVID-19, while optimism, as one composite factor of resilience, was a protective factor against exacerbation of OCD symptoms both during early COVID-19 and at follow-up. Our study showed that COVID-19 had immediate and long-term impacts on the exacerbation of OCD symptoms, and interventions targeted at improving resilience are recommended.

Citing Articles

The long-term impact of the covid-19 pandemic on patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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