Do patients with pathological health anxiety fear COVID-19? A time-course analysis of 12 single cases during the "first wave" of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Pre-existing health anxiety is associated with an intensified affective response to the novel COVID-19 pandemic in the general population. Still, results on the reaction of people with a diagnosis of pathological health anxiety (i.e., hypochondriasis) are scarce.

Methods

In the present study, we investigated the course of (health) anxiety related to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 in comparison to (health) anxiety related to other severe diseases (e.g., cancer) in a sample of 12 patients with the diagnosis of pathological health anxiety during the "first wave" of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Both SARS-CoV-2 related anxiety and anxiety related to other severe diseases were assessed weekly over 16 measurement points (30.03.-19.07.2020) and primarily analyzed with fixed effe

SUBMITTER: Sauer KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8632435 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature