The long-term effects of consecutive COVID-19 waves on mental health.

BACKGROUND: Although several studies have documented the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, the long-term effects remain unclear. AIMS: To examine longitudinal changes in mental health before and during the consecutive COVID-19 waves in a well-established probability sample. METHOD: An online survey was completed by the participants of the COVID-19 add-on study at four time points: pre-COVID-19 period (2014-2015, n = 1823), first COVID-19 wave (April to May 2020, n = 788), second COVID-19 wave (August to October 2020, n = 532) and third COVID-19 wave (March to April 2021, n = 383). Data were collected via a set of validated instruments, and analysed with latent growth models. RESULTS: During the pandemic, we observed a significant increase in stress levels (standardised ß = 0.473, P < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (standardised ß = 1.284, P < 0.001). The rate of increase in depressive symptoms (std. covariance = 0.784, P = 0.014), but not in stress levels (std. covariance = 0.057, P = 0.743), was associated with the pre-pandemic mental health status of the participants. Further analysis showed that secondary stressors played a predominant role in the increase in mental health difficulties. The main secondary stressors were loneliness, negative emotionality associated with the perception of COVID-19 disease, lack of resilience, female gender and younger age. CONCLUSIONS: The surge in stress levels and depressive symptoms persisted across all three consecutive COVID-19 waves. This persistence is attributable to the effects of secondary stressors, and particularly to the status of mental health before the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings reveal mechanisms underlying the surge in mental health difficulties during the COVID-19 waves, with direct implications for strategies promoting mental health during pandemics.

Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease: Involvement of the choroid plexus.

The choroid plexus (ChP) produces and is bathed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) shows extensive proteomic alterations including evidence of inflammation. Considering inflammation hampers functions of the involved tissues, the CSF abnormalities reported in these conditions are suggestive of ChP injury. Indeed, several studies document ChP damage in aging and AD, which nevertheless remains to be systematically characterized. We here report that the changes elicited in the CSF by AD are consistent with a perturbed aging process and accompanied by aberrant accumulation of inflammatory signals and metabolically active proteins in the ChP. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging shows that these molecular aberrancies correspond to significant remodeling of ChP in AD, which correlates with aging and cognitive decline. Collectively, our preliminary post-mortem and in vivo findings reveal a repertoire of ChP pathologies indicative of its dysfunction and involvement in the pathogenesis of AD. HIGHLIGHTS: Cerebrospinal fluid changes associated with aging are perturbed in Alzheimer's disease Paradoxically, in Alzheimer's disease, the choroid plexus exhibits increased cytokine levels without evidence of inflammatory activation or infiltrates In Alzheimer's disease, increased choroid plexus volumes correlate with age and cognitive performance.

The effect of mobile phone addiction on perceived stress and mediating role of ruminations: Evidence from Chinese and Czech university students.

Introduction: The rise in the capabilities of mobile devices and the associated increase in the proportion of time we spend on them has not only positive benefits but also several risks, including mobile phone addiction and its consequences. The complex mechanisms of the impact of this addiction on mental health, especially in a cross-cultural context, however, remain relatively unknown. The aim of this cross-cultural study was to investigate the mediating role of rumination on the association between mobile phone addiction and perceived stress. Methods: A population of 358 Chinese and 282 Czech university students was tested using a battery of validated psychological tests that included a short version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the Ruminative Response Scale, and the Perceived Stress Scale. Results: The results showed significant cross-cultural differences with Czech students manifesting greater rumination (d = 0.79) and perceived stress (d = 0.42) and Chinese students showing greater mobile phone addiction (d = 1.01). Mediation analyses showed that the effect of mobile phone addiction on stress levels was mediated through the rumination in both populations (45.6% and 80.9% of the explained variance for Chinese and Czech students, respectively) and did not differ between the two countries (estimate of difference [95%CI] = -0.052[-0.166, 0.037], p = 0.27). In contrast, the significant direct effect of mobile phone addiction on perceived stress was only present in Chinese students, where it was marginally larger than the indirect effect. In Czech students, the direct effect was not manifested and the difference between countries was significant (estimate of difference [95%CI] = 0.242 [0.035, 0.413], p < 0.001). In all of the cases, the association between the variables was positive, i.e., as one grew, so did the other. Finally, a moderated-mediation analysis confirmed that country of origin significantly moderated only the direct relationship between mobile phone dependence and perceived stress (p = 0.002). Discussion: These results suggest that the mechanism of interaction between excessive mobile phone use and perceived stress is culturally conditioned, which may limit the transferability of research findings in a global context and requires further cross-cultural studies.

Two Waves of COVID-19 in University Setting: Mental Health and Underlying Risk Factors.

The aim of the paper was to assess the differences in the mental distress of university students in the first and second waves of COVID-19, to compare these levels with that of the general population as well as to identify the risk factors associated with the changes in mental health. A total of 2,025 university students in core psychology courses in all years of study at the Faculty of Education at Palacký University Olomouc were approached via e-mail. Of this number of students, 800 students took part in the study, divided into two groups from the spring (N = 438) and autumn (N = 362) pandemic waves. The data were collected online via Google Forms using a battery of questionnaires and analyzed using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test, One-Sample Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and binary logistic regression. The results showed a high prevalence of depressive symptoms (38.4 and 51.4%), significant anxiety (43.8 and 37%), and high stress (19.9 and 22.9%) among students in both waves of the pandemic. Depression and stress also increased significantly during the second wave compared with the first one (r = 0.18 [0.12, 0.25] and r = 0.08 [0.01, 0.14]). Finally, university students showed significantly higher levels of mental distress than the general population in all of the variables and in both waves (r = 0.42-0.86). A variety of factors influenced different aspects of mental distress in the spring and autumn pandemic waves. Emotion regulation emerged as the most significant and pervasive factor, both influencing all of the three indicators of mental distress and being a significant predictor in both waves.

Culturally Relevant Resilience: A Psychometric Meta-Analysis of the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM).

Measuring key components of resilience is vital for understanding cross-cultural dynamics among youth and the environment. The Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28) was developed as a cross-cultural measure of resilience and has been used globally. To examine the cross-cultural utility of the CYRM-28, we conducted a systematic review of the literature reporting on the psychometric properties of the measure. Using data representing six countries (N = 6,232) that were supplied from authors of the studies reviewed, a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis was also conducted to estimate the variability of the measurement properties among communities, ages, and sex. Results indicate that the literature generally did not include reliability and validity information for the instrument. From the multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, the measure was invariant between adolescent age-groups and sexes but not across communities.

Risk Factors Underlying COVID-19 Lockdown-Induced Mental Distress.

Recent reports suggest that the COVID-19 lockdown resulted in changes in mental health, however, potential age-related changes and risk factors remain unknown. We measured COVID-19 lockdown-induced stress levels and the severity of depressive symptoms prior to and during the COVID-19 lockdown in different age groups and then searched for potential risk factors in a well-characterized general population-based sample. A total of 715 participants were tested for mental distress and related risk factors at two time-points, baseline testing prior to COVID-19 and follow-up testing during COVID-19, using a battery of validated psychological tests including the Perceived Stress Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire. Longitudinal measurements revealed that the prevalence of moderate to high stress and the severity of depressive symptoms increased 1.4- and 5.5-fold, respectively, during the COVID-19 lockdown. This surge in mental distress was more severe in women, but was present in all age groups with the older age group exhibiting, cross-sectionally, the lowest levels of mental distress prior to and during the lockdown. Illness perception, personality characteristics such as a feeling of loneliness, and several lifestyle components were found to be associated with a significant increase in mental distress. The observed changes in mental health and the identified potential risk factors underlying these changes provide critical data justifying timely and public emergency-tailored preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic mental health interventions, which should be integrated into future public health policies globally.