Changes in mental health symptoms from pre-COVID-19 to COVID-19 among participants with systemic sclerosis from four countries: a Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort study

Thombs, B.D.; Kwakkenbos, L.; Henry, R.S.; Carrier, M.E.; Patten, S.; Harb, S.; ... ; Ellis, K. (2020)

Article / Letter to editor

Introduction: No studies have reported mental health symptom comparisons prior to and during COVID-19 in vulnerable medical populations.Objective: To compare anxiety and depression symptoms among people with a pre-existing medical condition and factors associated with changes.Methods: Pre-COVID-19 Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network Cohort data were linked to COVID-19 data from April 2020. Multiple linear and logistic regression were used to assess factors associated with continuous change and >= 1 minimal clinically important difference (MCID) change for anxiety (PROMIS Anxiety 4a v1.0; MCID = 4.0) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-8; MCID = 3.0) symptoms, controlling for pre-COVID-19 levels.Results: Mean anxiety symptoms increased 4.9 points (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.0 to 5.7). Depression symptom change was negligible (0.3 points; 95% CI-0.7 to 0.2). Compared to France (N = 159), adjusted anxiety symptom change scores were significantly higher in the United Kingdom (N = 50; 3.3 points, 95% CI 0.9 to 5.6), United States (N = 128; 2.5 points, 95% CI 0.7 to 4.2), and Canada (N = 98; 1.9 points, 95% CI 0.1 to 3.8). Odds of >= 1 MCID increase were 2.6 for the United Kingdom (95% CI 1.2 to 5.7) but not significant for the United States (1.6, 95% CI 0.9 to 2.9) or Canada (1.4, 95% CI 0.7 to 2.5). Older age and adequate financial resources were associated with less continuous anxiety increase. Employment and shorter time since diagnosis were associated with lower odds of a >= 1 MCID increase.Conclusions: Anxiety symptoms, but not depression symptoms, increased dramatically during COVID-19 among people with a pre-existing medical condition.

• Adult
• Anxiety
• Clinical epidemiology
• COVID-19
• Depressed mood
• Depressive symptoms
• Epidemiology
• Pandemic
• Scleroderma
• Systemic sclerosis

• All authors: Thombs, B.D.; Kwakkenbos, L.; Henry, R.S.; Carrier, M.E.; Patten, S.; Harb, S.; Bourgeault, A.; Tao, L.; Bartlett, S.J.; Mouthon, L.; Varga, J.; Benedetti, A.; Fortune, C.; Gietzen, A.; Guillot, G.; Lewis, N.; Richard, M.; Sauve, M.; Welling, J.; Fligelstone, K.; Gottesman, K.; Leite, C.; Perez, E.; Baron, M.; Malcarne, V.; Mayes, M.D.; Nielson, W.R.; Riggs, R.; Assassi, S.; Ells, C.; Ende, C. van den; Frech, T.; Harel, D.; Hinchcliff, M.; Hudson, M.; Johnson, S.R.; Larche, M.; Nguyen, C.; Pope, J.; Rannou, F.; Reyna, T.S.R.; Schouffoer, A.A.; Suarez-Almazor, M.E.; Agard, C.; Albert, A.; Bernstein, E.J.; Berthier, S.; Bissonnette, L.; Bruns, A.; Carreira, P.; Chaigne, B.; Chung, L.; Correia, C.; Denton, C.; Domsic, R.; Dunne, J.V.; Dunogue, B.; Farge-Bancel, D.; Fortin, P.R.; Gordon, J.; Granel-Rey, B.; Hatron, P.Y.; Herrick, A.L.; Hoa, S.; Jones, N.; Fernandes, A.J.D.; Kafaja, S.; Khalidi, N.; Launay, D.; Manning, J.; Marie, I.; Martin, M.; Mekinian, A.; Melchor, S.; Nikpour, M.; Olagne, L.; Proudman, S.; Regent, A.; Riviere, S.; Robinson, D.; Rodriguez, E.; Roux, S.; Sobanski, V.; Steen, V.; Sutton, E.; Thorne, C.; Wilcox, P.; Ayala, M.C.; Carboni-Jimenez, A.; Gagarine, M.; Nordlund, J.; Ostbo, N.; Rice, D.B.; Turner, K.A.; Culos-Reed, N.; Dyas, L.; El-Baalbaki, G.; Hebblethwaite, S.; Bustamante, L.; Duchek, D.; Ellis, K.
• Date: 2020-12-01
• Journal: Journal of Psychosomatic Research
• Volume: 139
• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110262
• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399920308242?via%...