Depressive symptoms among adults in 2018-2019 and during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Restrictions due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has produced a large number of effects on mental health, which are expected to endure over time. In this study, we assessed depressive symptom levels before the COVID-19 pandemic, from January 2018 to December 2019, and during the pandemic in Italy in 2020.

Methods

We used the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), which is a screening instrument devised to detect probable depression and which has been annually administered in the framework of the Italian Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System since 2008. Depressive symptoms were assessed in a sample of 41,362 18-64-year-old adults surveyed in 2018-2019 and in a sample of 14,612 adults surveyed in 2020.

Results

The prevalence of depressive sympto

SUBMITTER: Gigantesco A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9034833 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature