Clinical risk factors of long-term post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and depression in COVID-19 survivors

The COVID-19 pandemic has a profound and lasting impact on the mental health of recovered individuals. To investigate the clinical risk factors associated with long-term post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), anxiety, and depression in COVID-19 survivors, demographic information and medical records were collected during February 19 and March 20, 2020. Assessments of PTSS, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were conducted at two months (April to May 2020, Session 1) and two years (April to May 2022, Session 2) post-discharge. Session 1 included 127 survivors who were infected with the early strains of SARS-CoV-2, and 54 of these participants took part in Session 2. PTSS (median: Session 1 = 9, Session 2 = 7; p = 0.522) and depression (median: Session 1 = 5, Session 2 = 4; p = 0.127) remained unchanged over the two years following COVID-19 infection, while anxiety (median: Session 1 = 5, Session 2 = 2; p < 0.001) significantly decreased at the two-year mark. Severe COVID-19 symptoms were consistently identified as significant risk factors for depression at both time points (Session 1: dyspnea [beta = -0.268, p = 0.016], nausea or vomiting [beta = 0.239, p = 0.031]; Session 2: headache [beta = 0.414, p = 0.014]). They also emerged as risk factors for PTSS and anxiety at the two-month mark (PTSS: cough [beta = -0.334, p = 0.002]; anxiety: continued oxygen therapy [beta = 0.343, p = 0.002], cough [beta = -0.267, p = 0.013]). At the two-year mark, blood sample characteristics were identified as risk factors for PTSS (albumin: beta = 0.455, p = 0.010), anxiety (total bilirubin: beta = 0.440, p = 0.013), and depression (total bilirubin: beta = 0.386, p = 0.021). Mann-Whitney U-tests showed that female survivors had higher anxiety (p = 0.012) and depression (p = 0.046) levels than males at the two-month mark. The sample size was relatively small, and further investigation is needed to determine whether our findings can be directly applied to other samples, including those involving different variants of SARS-CoV-2. Our study may highlight the differences between short-term and long-term clinical risk factors for PTSS, anxiety, and depression in COVID-19 survivors. The identified predictors could provide valuable insights for tailoring interventions to improve the PTSS, anxiety, and depression outcomes at different stages of recovery in COVID-19 survivors.