A cross-sectional study to determine the psychological distress among pulmonary tuberculosis patients during COVID-19 pandemic

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Submitted: March 2, 2022
Accepted: May 6, 2022
Published: May 13, 2022
Abstract Views: 1568
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COVID-19 pandemic had adversely affected the services of the National Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination Programme, resulting in psychological distress among pulmonary tuberculosis patients (PTB). This cross-sectional, hospital-based study included 361 PTB patients. Three pre-defined questionnaires were used for the analysis, a questionnaire to evaluate anxiety related to COVID-19, a patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression, and a fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) questionnaire. Among 361 PTB patients, 13% (n=47) had COVID-19 infection. Out of the total patients, 69% (n=250) were DR-TB (drug resistance-tuberculosis) cases. Proportion of anxiety, fear and depression due to COVID-19 was found in 49% (n=177), 23% (n=83), 67% (n=247) respectively. Delay in the initiation of anti-tubercular treatment was found in 58% (n=210) of the cases, among which the majority, i.e., 69% (n=172, p=0.011), were DR-TB. This pandemic has led to a sudden step-down of PTB. Trend analysis of the psychological distress showed a peak following the COVID-19 pandemic. Most DR-TB patients had delayed initiation of the anti-tubercular treatment during the pandemic. The preponderance of the younger age group was seen in the pulmonary tuberculosis patients, and a majority of them had DR-TB. Depression was the predominant psychological distress among the study subjects during the pandemic.

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Citations

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Ethics Approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee of the King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, India.

How to Cite

Mandal, Ankita, Ajay Kumar Verma, Sujit Kumar Kar, Jyoti Bajpai, Surya Kant, Santosh Kumar, Ram Avadh Singh Kushwaha, Rajiv Garg, Anand Srivastava, Darshan Kumar Bajaj, Sanjeev Kumar Verma, and Shyam Chand Chaudhary. 2022. “A Cross-Sectional Study to Determine the Psychological Distress Among Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients During COVID-19 Pandemic”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease 93 (1). https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2022.2255.