Physical and mental health outcomes including behavior and attitudes in people having social contacts with COVID-19 patients

PLoS One. 2021 Feb 2;16(2):e0245945. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245945. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection has spread worldwide since late 2019. People who have social contacts with COVID-19 patients might be at higher risk of physical or mental health problems. This study investigated whether people who had social contacts with COVID-19 patients would have poorer physical or mental outcomes, and different attitudes and behaviors. Chinese adults were recruited to fill in an online survey using snowball sampling during 21st-26nd February 2020. Physical symptoms, psychological outcomes, quality of life, COVID-19 related attitudes, and behaviors were measured. The differences in the outcomes between participants who had COVID-19 social contacts and those who had not were analyzed. The survey included 1,447 non-infected eligible participants. Among those, 173 (12.0%) reported at least one confirmed/suspected case in their social contacts. In the multiple regression adjusted for demographic data, the presence of confirmed/suspected infection cases in one's social contacts was significantly associated with poorer physical and mental outcomes, lower health-related quality of life, and different COVID-19 related attitudes and behaviors (p<0.05). In conclusion, people who had social contacts with COVID-19 patients were at risk of adverse health outcomes. Future studies are needed to understand the long-term impacts. Similarly, strategies to improve health outcomes for these people are needed.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anxiety / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / psychology*
  • China / epidemiology
  • Depression / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Humans
  • Internet
  • Male
  • Quality of Life
  • Social Networking
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / epidemiology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.