TY - JOUR PY - 2023// TI - Mental health in Germany in the first weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian war JO - BJPsych open A1 - Gottschick, Cornelia A1 - Diexer, Sophie A1 - Massag, Janka A1 - Klee, Bianca A1 - Broda, Anja A1 - Purschke, Oliver A1 - Binder, Mascha A1 - Sedding, Daniel A1 - Frese, Thomas A1 - Girndt, Matthias A1 - Hoell, Jessica I. A1 - Michl, Patrick A1 - Gekle, Michael A1 - Mikolajczyk, Rafael SP - e66 EP - e66 VL - 9 IS - 3 N2 - BACKGROUND: In the connected world, although societies are not directly involved in a military conflict, they are exposed to media reports of violence. AIMS: We assessed the effects of such exposures on mental health in Germany during the military conflict in Ukraine.

METHOD: We used the German population-based cohort for digital health research, DigiHero, launching a survey on the eighth day of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Of the 27 509 cohort participants from the general population, 19 444 (70.7%) responded within 17 days. We measured mental health and fear of the impact of war compared with other fears (natural disasters or health-related).

RESULTS: In a subsample of 4441 participants assessed twice, anxiety in the population (measured by the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 screener) was higher in the first weeks of war than during the strongest COVID-19 restrictions. Anxiety was elevated across the whole age spectrum, and the mean was above the cut-off for mild anxiety. Over 95% of participants expressed various degrees of fear of the impact of war, whereas the percentage for other investigated fears was 0.47-0.82. A one-point difference in the fear of the impact of war was associated with a 2.5 point (95% CI 2.42-2.58) increase in anxiety (11.9% of the maximum anxiety score). For emotional distress, the increase was 0.67 points (0.66-0.68) (16.75% of the maximum score).

CONCLUSIONS: The population in Germany reacted to the Russo-Ukrainian war with substantial distress, exceeding reactions during the strongest restrictions in the COVID-19 pandemic. Fear of the impact of war was associated with worse mental health.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 2056-4724 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.21 ID - ref1 ER -