Citation

Dominguez-Rodriguez A, Herdoiza-Arroyo PE, Martínez Arriaga RJ, Bautista Valerio E, Mateu Mollá J, de la Rosa-Gómez A, Farfallini L, Hernández Jiménez MJ, Esquivel Santoveña EE, Ramírez-Martínez FR, Castellanos Vargas RO, Arzola-Sánchez CA, Arenas-Landgrave P, Martínez-Luna SC. Front. Psychiatry 2022; 13: e749236.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Frontiers Media)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyt.2022.749236

PMID

35370841

PMCID

PMC8964437

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the greatest challenges in modern history, with more than four million confirmed deaths worldwide. To date, evidence regarding the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on grievers is scarce for developing countries such as Mexico. This study aimed to assess the levels of anxiety and associated concerns in a sample of Mexican adults bereaved during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-sectional study was conducted through the Duelo COVID (COVID Grief) platform, which is a self-guided online treatment. A total of 5,224 participants reported their anxiety, depression, sleep quality, avoidance, and arousal, prolonged grief symptoms, and medication consumption. Independent sample Mann-Whitney U-tests, chi-square tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests, as well as multinomial logistic regression, were conducted.

RESULTS indicated that 90.4% of the participants reported clinical levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep affectations. The people who lost someone during the last 5 months scored higher in normal grief symptoms compared to the people whose loss was 6 months ago or more, and 9.8% of individuals reported the use of prescription medication, with anxiolytics and antidepressants being the most common. Females, younger respondents, unemployed people with a lower educational level, and participants who disclosed a recent suicide attempt were among those who reported medication consumption. Sleep problems were more frequent in older participants.

Language: en

Keywords

Mexico; COVID-19; depression; anxiety; drugs; grief; sleep quality; post-traumatic stress