{"title":"Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and Nonpsychiatric Control Subjects in Clinical Trials.","authors":"Maria Fe Garcia-Rada, Robert E Litman","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with serious mental illness (SMI), specifically relating to psychiatric morbidity, pandemic-induced stress, and ability to cope with pandemic-related precautionary measures, restrictions, and disruptions to daily life.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A cross-sectional survey study of 277 clinical trial patients was conducted. This sample included nonpsychiatric controls (n=139) and patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), or schizophrenia (n=138) located at five clinical trial sites across the United States. A univariate analysis was performed to obtain general frequencies of the sample. Unpaired t-tests were used in comparing the groups on numerical variables, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify differences when comparing three or more categories.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Patients with SMI were more likely to report wearing face masks, avoiding large gatherings, and endorsing the use of precautionary measures, despite receiving a COVID-19 vaccine (<i>p</i><0.001). A total of 70.3 percent (n=97) of all patients with SMI reported experiencing at least one episode of symptom worsening, 48 percent reported experiencing suicidal ideation, and 66 percent reported a need for increased mental healthcare due to COVID-19-related distress. Patients with SMI reported higher levels of stress, compared to controls, with patients with MDD having the highest levels of stress (<i>p</i><0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings demonstrate an increased vulnerability to symptom worsening in patients with SMI during a pandemic and suggest the need to account for pandemic-induced psychological stress in clinical trial design, subject selection, and symptoms ratings.</p>","PeriodicalId":13635,"journal":{"name":"Innovations in clinical neuroscience","volume":"21 1-3","pages":"13-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10941859/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Innovations in clinical neuroscience","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with serious mental illness (SMI), specifically relating to psychiatric morbidity, pandemic-induced stress, and ability to cope with pandemic-related precautionary measures, restrictions, and disruptions to daily life.
Design: A cross-sectional survey study of 277 clinical trial patients was conducted. This sample included nonpsychiatric controls (n=139) and patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), or schizophrenia (n=138) located at five clinical trial sites across the United States. A univariate analysis was performed to obtain general frequencies of the sample. Unpaired t-tests were used in comparing the groups on numerical variables, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify differences when comparing three or more categories.
Results: Patients with SMI were more likely to report wearing face masks, avoiding large gatherings, and endorsing the use of precautionary measures, despite receiving a COVID-19 vaccine (p<0.001). A total of 70.3 percent (n=97) of all patients with SMI reported experiencing at least one episode of symptom worsening, 48 percent reported experiencing suicidal ideation, and 66 percent reported a need for increased mental healthcare due to COVID-19-related distress. Patients with SMI reported higher levels of stress, compared to controls, with patients with MDD having the highest levels of stress (p<0.001).
Conclusion: These findings demonstrate an increased vulnerability to symptom worsening in patients with SMI during a pandemic and suggest the need to account for pandemic-induced psychological stress in clinical trial design, subject selection, and symptoms ratings.