Dataset Information

Mental health in Germany in the first weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

ABSTRACT:

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.

SUBMITTER: Gottschick C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10134205 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Mental health in Germany in the first weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Gottschick Cornelia C Diexer Sophie S Massag Janka J Klee Bianca B Broda Anja A Purschke Oliver O Binder Mascha M Sedding Daniel D Frese Thomas T Girndt Matthias M Hoell Jessica I JI Michl Patrick P Gekle Michael M Mikolajczyk Rafael R

BJPsych open 20230414 3

<h4>Background</h4>In the connected world, although societies are not directly involved in a military conflict, they are exposed to media reports of violence.<h4>Aims</h4>We assessed the effects of such exposures on mental health in Germany during the military conflict in Ukraine.<h4>Method</h4>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 popula ...[more]

PMID: 37057843

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Dataset Information

Mental health in Germany in the first weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Background

Aims

Method

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Mental health in Germany in the first weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

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