Second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Argentinian population: vaccination is associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms

BENEDETTI P; BARBUZZA A; MOSCATO F; REPPUCCI V; GOYENECHE C; KATCHE C; MEDINA, J.H.; VIOLA, H.; BALLARINI F; MONCADA D

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Frontiers Media S.A.

Año: 2022

Since the first COVID-19 outbreak, the efforts of the world focused on impairing the propagation of the disease to attenuate the number of contagions and deaths. This raised concern and uncertainty in the population, with a direct impact on their mental health that deserves a thorough analysis. Moreover, the recurrent outbreaks that periodically harry different regions of the world constantly refocus people?s attention to the pandemic. Our research addressed this issue by studying the anxiety and depression of the Argentinean population during the two COVID-19 outbreaks that the country experienced until now. It shows that the second wave of COVID-19, when the number of contagions seriously increased, was accompanied by higher self-reports of generalized anxiety levels and depression. This occurred in a moment when the country started a massive vaccination campaign. In fact, vaccinated people were less depressed than non-vaccinated one. Vaccination did not correlate with changes in anxiety levels but, workers and people who performed frequent physical activity were less anxious and depressed than non-workers or persons who exercised with low frequency. To summarize, we describe changes in anxiety and depression self-reported symptoms at consecutive COVID-19 outbreaks and describe factors, including vaccination, which may help to mitigate these disorders.