Association of loneliness and social isolation with mental disorders among medical residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-center cross-sectional study.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Wei, Yingliang Tang, Jun Zhao, Jianzhu Liang, Jiajian Li, Zhiyuan Bai, Song
Copyright Year	2023
Abstract	BackgroundLoneliness and social isolation usually increase the risk of mental disorders. However, this association among Chinese medical residents during the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear.MethodsThis study was conducted in September 2022; 1,338 medical residents from three hospitals in Northeastern China were included in the final analysis. The data were collected via online self-administered questionnaires. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were determined for adjusting for potential confounders by binary logistic regression.ResultsAmong the 1,338 participants, 12.93% (173), 9.94% (133), and 9.72% (130) had experienced major depression, major anxiety, and suicidal ideation, respectively. Further, 24.40% (327) and 44.50% (596) of the total participants had experienced loneliness and social isolation. Loneliness increased the risk of major depression, major anxiety, and suicidal ideation (all p<0.001); Compared with the lowest quartile, the odds ratios of the highest quartile were 4.81, 4.63, and 5.34. The same result was obtained in relation to social isolation (all p<0.001).ConclusionsThe findings of this study revealed a considerable prevalence of loneliness, social isolation, and mental disorders among Chinese medical residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both loneliness and social isolation increased the risk of major depression, major anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC10172154&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	01651781
Journal	Psychiatry Research [Psychiatry Res]
Volume Number	327
DOI	10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115233
PubMed Central reference number	PMC10172154
PubMed reference number	37567113
e-ISSN	18727123
Language	English
Publisher	Published by Elsevier B.V.
Publisher Date	2023-05-11
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. © 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Subject Keyword	Loneliness social isolation mental disorders medical residents COVID-19
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Biological Psychiatry Psychiatry and Mental Health