The Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in COVID-19 Recovered Patients: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the anxiety disorders caused by a specific event, which can be catastrophic events (natural disasters, war, imprisonment in a forced labor camp) or everyday adversities (death of relatives, divorce, carrying bags). Since patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are exposed to such events, this research was conducted to determine the prevalence of PTSD in this group.Materials & Methods This study was cross-sectional. The statistical population included all patients who recovered from COVID-19 between November 2021 and February 2022 in Hamedan City, Iran;based on Krejcie and Morgan's sample size table, 185 patients were selected by simple random sampling method. The research tool was the demographic questionnaire and the Mississippi post -traumatic stress disorder questionnaire (Mississippi PTSD);the data were analyzed using the Mann -Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.Results The results showed that the Mean +/- SD score of PTSD was 80.37 +/- 17.37 in the subjects who recovered from COVID-19. The relationship between the demographic variables of gender (P=0.01), education (P=0.039), occupation (P=0.24), marriage (P=0.62), age (P=0.048), weight (P=0.047), height (P=0.023) with PTSD were reported.Conclusion The results showed that 76.2% of people who recovered from COVID-19 were exposed to PTSD with moderate and high severity;therefore, techniques to reduce anxiety from the corona -virus are recommended.

Experience of Iranian Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, different environmental stressors and the difficult lockdown conditions exacerbated the signs and symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The aim of this study is to qualitatively investigate and deeply understand the experiences of patients during the epidemic and its effect on the exacerbation of their symptoms to help plan the treatment of OCD during these kinds of periods. Method: This was a descriptive phenomenological study using Colaizzi's approach, conducted on OCD patients who visited Tehran Psychiatric Institute. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the patients and continued until reaching saturation. Lincoln and Guba's trustworthiness criteria for qualitative research (credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability) were used to ensure the accuracy and precision of the findings. Results: Fourteen participants with a mean age of 30.3 years took part in this study. The data analysis revealed three themes: the pandemic disrupting OCD patients' mental structure (OCD exacerbation, increased tensions in interpersonal relationships, mental exhaustion), rationalization of OCD symptoms in the context of COVID-19 (not feeling excluded, conflict resolution with the family, theoretically taking revenge on others), and the assimilation of COVID-19 within OCD (adaptation of the mental world to the world of COVID-19, altered content of obsession, and altered pattern of obsession). Conclusion: The stress induced by the COVID-19 pandemic can impact OCD in different ways, mostly by exacerbating the symptoms, adding new symptoms, and altering the type of obsession. The stress of infection is the most important factor in OCD exacerbation Copyright © 2023, Journal of Iranian Medical Council. All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The Effect of Online Teaching on the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Pain in Female Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the largest disruption in education systems in human history. The use of online teaching increased daily, finally affecting more than 200 million students worldwide. The aim of the present study was to compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in female students during the Covid-19 pandemic with the pre-pandemic period. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in two stages: before the Covid-19 pandemic (October to December 2019) and during the Covid-19 pandemic (January to February 2020). The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was used to determine the musculoskeletal pain points. Data was analyzed using the t-test, McNemar test, and logistic regression in SPSS ver. 22, and a P<0.05 was considered as the significance level. Results: A significant decrease in the hours of physical activity (PA) was observed during the pandemic (3.17±2.17 hours/week) (P<0.001) compared to the pre-pandemic period (4.76±4.92 hours/week), and a significant increase in hours of using e-learning aids was seen during the pandemic (45.29±23.24 hours/week) compared to the pre-pandemic period (13.01) (P<0.001). The McNemar test revealed a significant difference in musculoskeletal pain in nine areas before and during the Covid-19 pandemic (P<0.001). The results of the regression test also showed that increasing the hours of online teaching and decreasing the hours of PA increased the odds ratios of increasing musculoskeletal pain. Conclusion: Based on the present results, changing the teaching method during the Covid-19 pandemic and reducing physical activity has led to an increase in musculoskeletal pain in students. 2022© The Authors. Published by JRSR. All rights reserved.