Generalized Anxiety among Swiss Health Professions and Non-Health Professions Students: An Open Cohort Study over 14 Months in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thomas Volken, Annina Zysset, Simone Amendola, Agnes von Wyl, Julia Dratva and on behalf of the HES-C Research Group
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Thomas Volken: Institute of Health Sciences, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, 8401 Winterthur, Switzerland
Annina Zysset: Institute of Health Sciences, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, 8401 Winterthur, Switzerland
Simone Amendola: Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Agnes von Wyl: School of Applied Psychology, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland
Julia Dratva: Institute of Health Sciences, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, 8401 Winterthur, Switzerland
on behalf of the HES-C Research Group: Membership of the HES-C Research Group is provided in the Acknowledgments.

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: To date, little is known about the long-term trajectory of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms in health professions (HP) students over the course of the pandemic. Like health professionals in general, HP students may have a significantly greater susceptibility to GAD symptoms due to their involvement in the health care system and the associated specific stressors and risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEalth in Students during the Corona pandemic study (HES-C) provided the opportunity to investigate the long-term course of GAD symptoms with eight measurement points over 14 months in 9380 HP and non-HP students in Switzerland between March 2020 and June 2021. We employed logistic regression models with clustered sandwich standard errors to estimate unadjusted and adjusted prevalence of GAD symptoms. In the full model, we adjusted for age, gender, nationality, social status, social support, self-efficacy, and COVID-19 symptoms in the past 4 weeks. At baseline, the estimated adjusted GAD symptom prevalence was 17.6% (95% CI = 14.4–20.7) in HP students and 24.4% (95% CI = 22.3–26.5) in their peers. With the peak of the second SARS-CoV-2 infection wave in October/November 2020, GAD symptom prevalence substantially increased and then remained stable over time, despite changes in the epidemiological situation and its associated containment measures. At the last follow-up in June 2021, GAD symptom prevalence in HP and non-HP students was 22.9% (95% CI = 16.3–29.5) and 36.9% (95% CI = 32.9–40.9), respectively. Absolute differences in GAD symptom prevalence between student groups over all eight measurement points ranged from 6.2% to 14.9% (all p < 0.05). Non-HP students are identified as a specifically vulnerable group. Accordingly, target group-specific public health campaigns and interventions should be developed with the aim to strengthen their resources, reducing GAD symptoms, and preventing chronification.

Keywords: generalized anxiety disorder; health professions; students; COVID-19; mental health; young adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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