A study on prevalence of anxiety during the pandemic and post pandemic of covid-19 among adult population of district Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Background: COVID-19 pandemic started in India on 30th January 2020. A nationwide lockdown was enforced from 24th March 2020 and general population was confined to their homes causing many psychological problems. Objective: To find the prevalence of anxiety during the pandemic and post pandemic of COVID-19 among adult population of Ghaziabad city. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study, conducted among the adult population of urban Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Information was collected using a predesigned questionnaire with a sample size of 396 consenting individuals during the pandemic and 364 post the pandemic. Results: During the pandemic, one-fifth of the study participants (20.9%) suffered from anxiety with 55 (13.88%) of the subjects suffering from mild anxiety, 19 (4.80%) having moderate and 9 (2.27%) having severe anxiety. Whereas, post pandemic only 24 (7.41%) of the subjects suffered from anxiety with 13 (3.57%) having mild anxiety, 11 (3.02%) having moderate and a mere 2 (0.55%) suffering from severe anxiety. There was a significant association between history of contact with a COVID-19 patient and anxiety levels before and after the pandemic (p= 0.023). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major mental health impact. Identifying easily susceptible individuals is thus, important as it will help prevent the short and long term negative consequences due to anxiety both in India as well as internationally.