Impact of COVID-19 on mental health in Uruguay

Abstract

Introduction. The history of quarantines has pointed out impacts in the short and long term on mental health. Objective: Within the framework of the measures decreed to reduce the transmissibility of SarS-Cov2, we propose to analyze the repercussions on the mental health of the Uruguayan population. Methodology. Analytical design. Application of a selfadministered web survey. Absolute and relative percentage frequencies and their confidence intervals (95 %) were analyzed. Binary logistic models were estimated for dichotomous variables and multinomial logistic models for «difficulty falling asleep». Results. Regarding anxiety elements, 27.1 % (95 % CI, 24.8-29.3) and 31.0 % (95 % CI, 28-33.3) responded feeling anxious in the first and second cut-off, respectively. 19.9 % (95 % CI, 17.6-21.7) and 31.4 % (95 % CI, 20.06-33.89) reported feeling sad in the first and second cut-off. Medium educational level was associated with the presence of anxiety (p < 0.001), while low educational level was associated with sadness (p = 0.005). A protective effect was observed in households with more than five members for the sadness variable with an OR of 0.41 (95 % CI, 0.22-0.75). Female gender was related to the presence of anxiety and sadness. Medium and high educational levels were related to the presence of anxiety and sadness was associated with unemployment. Sleep disorders were associated with female gender, unemployment and non-communicable diseases. Conclusion. The impact on mental health was unequal, especially affecting women from middle socio-educational sectors, between 35 and 59 years of age.