Podcast 654: Depression in COVID

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD

Educational Pearls:

• Survey study compared depression symptom prevalence in the United States at the beginning of COVID compared to data acquired by a similar survey for 2017-2018 and found it was three-fold higher
• • Mild symptoms: 25% during pandemic; 16% before
  • Moderate: 15% during pandemic; 6% before
  • Moderately Severe symptoms: 8% during pandemic; 2% before
  • Severe symptoms: ~5% during pandemic; 1% before
• Those with lower income, less savings, and exposure to more stressors were at greater risk for developing depression symptoms

References

Ettman CK, Abdalla SM, Cohen GH, Sampson L, Vivier PM, Galea S. Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in US Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(9):e2019686. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19686

Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD