The impact of COVID-19 on the quality of life among University students with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated precautionary measures to prevent the transmission of the virus, affecting individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of university students with OCD. Methods: Students with validated confirmed diagnosis of OCD at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, received two online surveys: the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) to approve the diagnosis and the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) to assess symptom severity and overall quality of life during the pandemic. Students with psychotic disorders were excluded from this study. Results: The majority were females (62.5%), with an average age of 23.13 years. The participants had mild to moderate of OCD symptoms. The SF-36 role limitation due to emotional problems domain was significantly associated with the level of OCD symptoms (p=0.023), with higher scores reported for those with mild symptoms. Age was positively correlated with social functioning and pain domains but negatively correlated with Y-BOCS scores. The general health domain was significantly associated with current OCD symptoms and family history of OCD diagnosis. Conclusions: The self-reported decline in the severity of OCD symptoms in adult students indicates that the participants in our study with diagnosable OCD perceive an improvement in their symptoms from the previous year.