Journal Article

Psychological distress among people with probable COVID-19 infection: analysis of the UK Household Longitudinal Study

By Claire L. Niedzwiedz, Michaela Benzeval, Kirsten Hainey, Alastair H. Leyland and Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi

Publication details

Publication date
Published in
BJPsych Open
Volume
7
Publisher
Royal College of Psychiatrists
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.63
ISSN
20564724

Summary

Studies exploring the longer-term effects of experiencing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) on mental health are lacking. We explored the relationship between reporting probable COVID-19 symptoms in April 2020 and psychological distress (measured using the General Health Questionnaire) 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 months later. Data were taken from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative household panel survey of UK adults. Elevated levels of psychological distress were found up to 7 months after probable COVID-19, compared with participants with no likely infection. Associations were stronger among younger age groups and men. Further research into the psychological sequalae of COVID-19 is urgently needed.

Notes

Open Access

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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