Clinical characteristics and online mental health care of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with coronavirus disease 2019

PLoS One. 2020 Nov 23;15(11):e0242130. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242130. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Comparing to data in patients with severe coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19), there are few studies on the prevalence anxiety and/or depression in patients with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19. We investigated the clinical characteristics and the prevalence of anxiety and/or depression among asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with COVID-19 and monitored their mental health using an online assessment. An online survey for monitoring and assessing the mental health of patients with COVID-19 using a mobile phone was conducted. We used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to measure anxiety and/or depression levels. Of the 234 patients, 66 patients were asymptomatic (28.2%), while the remaining 168 patients were mildly symptomatic. The prevalence of anosmia (p = 0.001) and ageusia (p = 0.008) significantly decreased with the increasing age. In addition, 19.8% and 14.0% patients had anxiety and/or depression in the first survey, and one week after the first survey, respectively. Compared to patients without anxiety and/or depression, those with anxiety and/or depression had a longer quarantine duration. We found that anomia and ageusia were relatively common in the young age group. Furthermore, one-fifth asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with COVID-19 had anxiety and/or depression.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Anxiety / epidemiology
  • Anxiety / psychology
  • Asymptomatic Diseases / psychology*
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • COVID-19 / prevention & control
  • COVID-19 / psychology*
  • COVID-19 / virology
  • Delivery of Health Care / methods*
  • Depression / epidemiology
  • Depression / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internet-Based Intervention
  • Male
  • Mental Health*
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics / prevention & control*
  • Prevalence
  • Quarantine / psychology
  • Republic of Korea / epidemiology
  • SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work