The impact of quarantine on mental health status among general population in China during the COVID-19 pandemic
Open accessAbstract
Quarantine and isolation measures urgently adopted to control the COVID-19 pandemic might potentially have negative psychological and social effects. We conducted this cross-sectional, nationwide study to ascertain the psychological effect of quarantine and identify factors associated with mental health outcomes among population quarantined to further inform interventions of mitigating mental health risk especially for vulnerable groups under pandemic conditions. Sociodemographic data, attitudes toward the COVID-19, and mental health measurements of 56,679 participants from 34 provinces in China were collected by an online survey from February 28 to March 11, 2020. Of the 56,679 participants included in the study (mean [SD] age, 36.0 [8.2] years), 27,149 (47.9%) were male and 16,454 (29.0%) ever experienced home confinement or centralized quarantine during COVID-19 outbreak. Compared those without quarantine and adjusted for potential confounders, quarantine measures were associated with increased risk of total psychological outcomes (prevalence, 34.1% vs 27.3%; odds ratio [OR], 1.34; 95% CI, 1.28-1.39; P < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analyses showed that vulnerable groups of the quarantined population included those with pre-existing mental disorders or chronic physical diseases, frontline workers, those in the most severely affected areas during outbreak, infected or suspected patients, and those who are less financially well-off. Complying with quarantine, being able to take part in usual work, and having adequate understanding of information related to the outbreak were associated with less mental health issues. These results suggest that quarantine measures during COVID-19 pandemic are associated with increased risk of experiencing mental health burden, especially for vulnerable groups. Further study is needed to establish interventions to reduce mental health consequences of quarantine and empower wellbeing especially in vulnerable groups under pandemic conditions.
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Previous studies on the general population in China reported changes in sleep quality, sleep disturbance, and insomnia among participants suffering from anxiety symptoms.
“Previous studies on the general population in China reported changes in sleep quality, sleep disturbance, and insomnia among participants suffering from anxiety symptoms [26,30].”
From COVID-19-Related Anxiety Symptoms among Quarantined Adolescents and Its Impact on Sleep Pattern Changes and Somatic Symptoms (2022) · cites this paper as [30]
The Methods (Outcomes and covariates; page not available) identify anxiety and insomnia as measured outcomes, and the Results (The psychological impact of quarantine; page not available) report both by quarantine status. The paper does not report sleep quality or sleep disturbance among participants with anxiety symptoms, nor does it present an analysis of insomnia specifically in that subgroup. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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“Previous studies on the general population in China reported changes in sleep quality, sleep disturbance, and insomnia among participants suffering from anxiety symptoms [26,30].”
Background
- Authors
- Wang, Y., Shi, L., Que, J., Lu, Q., Liu, L., Lu, Z., Xu, Y., Liu, J., Sun, Y., Meng, S., Yuan, K., Ran, M., Lu, L., Bao, Y., & Shi, J.
- Affiliations
- Peking University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Bao, Yanping
- Shi, Jie
- ORCID
- Venue
- Molecular Psychiatry
- Published
- 2021-01-22
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 4813-4822
- ISSN
- 1359-4184 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-5578
- PMC
- PMC7821451
- OpenAlex
- W3125897287
- Cited by
- 328
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 103 · 2021: 73
- FWCI
- 47.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Molecular Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (U180220091, 81761128036, 2019YFA0706200, COVID-19)
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (COVID-19)
- Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds UGent
- National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFA0706200])
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2019YFA0706200)
- Peking University Health Science Center
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- COVID-19 quarantine, mental health, psychological distress, home confinement, vulnerable populations, frontline workers, pre-existing mental disorders, chronic physical illness, financial hardship, attitudes toward COVID-19, quarantine compliance
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Anxiety, China, Cross-Sectional Studies, Health Status, Humans, Male, Quarantine, Pandemics
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