Post-traumatic Stress Risk among COVID-19 Survivors in Colombia

  1. Adalberto Campo-Arias
  2. John Carlos Pedrozo-Pupo
  3. Edwin Herazo

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Abstract

The study’s objective was to establish the prevalence and variables associated with post-traumatic stress disorder risk (PTSD-R) in a sample of COVID-19 survivors in Santa Marta, Colombia. A cross-sectional study was designed with a non-probabilistic sample of adult COVID-19 survivors. Participants were demographically characterized and completed scales for depression risk, insomnia risk, and PTSD-R. Three hundred and thirty COVID-19 survivors between 18 and 89 years participated; 61.52% were women. The frequency of depression risk was 49.70%; insomnia risk, 60.61%; and PTSD-R, 13.33%. Depression risk (OR = 41.43, 95% CI 5.54 – 311.63), insomnia risk (OR = 5.25, 95% CI 1.77 – 18.71), low income (OR = 3.46, 95% CI 1.38 – 8.67) and being married or free union (OR = 2.65, 95% CI 1.13 – 6.22) were associated with PTSD-R. In conclusion, two out of every fifteen COVID-19 survivors are in PTSD-R. Depression and insomnia risk are strongly associated with PTSD-R in COVID-19 survivors.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.12.02.21267210: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsConsent: Patients were informed of the study objectives of giving informed consent.
    IRB: Ethical considerations: A research ethics committee approved the study of a Colombian university (Approval Certificate 002 of March 26, 2020).
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Study strengths and limitations: This research has the strength of showing the frequency and variables associated with PTSD-R in an adequate sample of COVID-19 survivors in the socio-cultural context of the Colombian Caribbean (Hernández, 2006; Katz, 2006). However, it has the limitation that the findings cannot be generalized due to non-probabilistic sampling (Álvarez-Hernández & Delgado-De la Mora, 2015). In the same way, the psychological variables were quantified with measurement scales that only screen and can overestimate the prevalence because they only indicate people at high risk of meeting criteria for a formal disorder (Álvarez-Hernández & Delgado-De la Mora, 2015). The diagnosis of a mental disorder is a complex clinical process that considers the presence of symptoms, the deterioration in global functioning or quality of life, and the factors that can explain the clinical manifestations, for example, comorbidity, drug use, substance abuse that induces dependence and normative events such as grief (APA, 2013). Conclusions: It is concluded that two out of every fifteen COVID-19 survivors are in PTSD-R. Depression and insomnia risks are strongly associated with PTSD-R in survivors in Santa Marta, Colombia. Early identification of PTSD-R and management is essential. Research is needed to evaluate the long-term PTSD-R in a probability sample.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.12.02.21267210v1 on medRxiv