1Roshanak Mehdipour Dastjerdi, 1Fereshteh Ashtari

1Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Background:

Coronavirus 2019 (called COVID19) is a new coronavirus which has created a pandemic since early 2020. NMOSD patients are more affected by psychological effects of COVID19 pandemic such as anxiety and fear because they may be worried about being infected by COVID19 (due to the nature of disease and treatment by immunosuppressant drugs) and also they concern about their treatment protocol and disease relapses during the pandemic.

Material(s) and Method(s):

The aim of study was to evaluate the anxiety due to COVID19 infection, 3 and 12 months after beginning of epidemic in Iran.The study was done in patients of NMOSD Cohort Clinic of Kashani hospital, Isfahan. We first asked individuals if they were anxious or afraid of the pandemic subjectively. To investigate the objective level of anxiety, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A) questionnaire was filled. Also we asked them about respecting general cautions and sanitary protocols to prevent COVID19 infection.

Result(s):

Study included 120 patients (96 female) with mean age of 36.37±9.69 and mean duration of disease about 8.49±5.35 years. A total of 96 cases (80%) experienced anxiety during the first 3 months of pandemic. The point is that their level of anxiety decreased significantly with the prolongation of pandemic after 9 months and just 66 patients (55%) showed anxiety subjectively on the second survey. Based on HADS-A score, 92 patients (76.66%) were anxious on the third month while after one year of epidemic 70 cases (58.33%) showed anxiety. Respecting preventive measures increased in the same period .

Conclusion(s):

Along with the COVID19 pandemic prolongation, the level of anxiety had decreased gradually while the level of alertness and attention was almost high. It should be considered that this awareness must be preserved till the end of epidemic.