The Impact of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 Disease) on Psychopathology

Completed

Conditions: Mood Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Psychosis;Schizophrenic
Personality Disorders
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Interventions: Other: Psychometric scale administration

Registration Number: NCT04694482

Lead Sponsor: University of Milano Bicocca

Brief Summary: The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may be considered a traumatic phenomenon.

In a sample of subjects suffering from different psychiatric disorders, psychopathological status and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms over time are assessed using specific psychometric scales. In a sample of healthy controls PTSD symptoms are evaluated by Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) and compared to patients' scores.

We hypothesize that a significant number of psychiatric outpatients have experienced a clinical psychopathological worsening and a greater prevalence of PTSD symptoms compared to the general population. The study of the potential psychopathological changes could represent a useful contribution to deepen the understanding of psychological consequences of the pandemic.

Detailed Description: SARS-CoV-2 epidemic is a worldwide phenomenon which generated fear, anxiety, depression and PTSD symptoms, as a consequence of the high number of deaths and the restricted measures adopted by the Italian Government to stem the spread of the virus.

The aims of the study are: (1) to investigate potential psychopathological changes over time in a sample of patients affected by different psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, anxiety/Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), personality disorders); (2) to compare patients and healthy controls in terms of post-traumatic symptoms.

Outpatients affected by different psychiatric disorders are recruited during their routine visits and demographic/clinical variables are collected from their medical records.

Psychopathological status and PTSD symptoms are retrospectively assessed using specific psychometric scales, such as Brief Psychiatry Rating Scale (BPRS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Disability Scale (DISS), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), IES-R.

The assessment is performed over time at three time points: T0 corresponding to the outbreak of the pandemic (January-February 2020), T1 which was the lockdown period (March-April 2020) and T2 corresponding to the reopening and restarting (May-June 2020).

Descriptive analyses of the whole sample will be performed. Then, mixed linear regression models will be run to investigate the change over time in patients' psychometric scores and whether it differs among different diagnostic groups. Moreover, same analyses will be performed to compare patients and healthy subjects in terms of change of IES-R scores over time.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 270

Inclusion Criteria

understanding of the Italian language
ability to understand and sign written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

severe mental retardation
pregnancy or post-partum period
severe or chronic medical condition
health workers

Study & Design

Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL

Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
healthy controls	Psychometric scale administration	Psychometric scales
psychiatric patients	Psychometric scale administration	Psychometric scales

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Severity Subscale	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-7. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The severity subscale measures the global severity of symptom presentation based on the clinicians' evaluation (Normal, Borderline mentally ill, Mildly ill, etc.).
Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-126. Higher scores mean worse outcome. This psychometric scale measures the global psychopathology investigating several psychopathological areas (anxiety, thinking, mood, perception, etc.). It provides a global score of severity (\> 31 means that the patient need hospitalization).
Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Improvement Subscale	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-7. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The improvement subscale measures the clinical improvement (how much has the patient changed) according to the clinician's judgement. It results as: very much improved, much improved, minimally improved, no changed, minimally worse, etc.).
Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-56. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale consists of 14 items, each defined by a series of symptoms, and measures both psychic anxiety (mental agitation and psychological distress) and somatic anxiety (physical complaints related to anxiety).
Impact of Event Scale - Revised Version (IES-R)	2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-88. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale is a self-report measure of current subjective distress in response to a specific traumatic event. It comprises 3 subscales representative of the major symptom clusters of post-traumatic stress: intrusion, avoidance, and hyper-arousal.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-60. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale measures the core symptoms of depression (e.g. anhedonia).
Disability Scale (DISS)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-30. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale includes 3 self-rated items designed to measure the extent to which 3 major domains (work 0-10, social life/leisure activities 0-10, and family life/home responsibilities 0-10) in the patient's life are functionally impaired by psychiatric or medical symptoms. For each subscale, higher scores mean better outcome. Subscales are summed to compute a total score.
Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-67. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale measures the severity of depressive symptoms taking into account anxiety and somatic manifestations.
Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-56. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale has 11 items and is based on the patient's subjective report of his or her clinical condition, and generally limited to the previous 48 hours. There are four items that are graded on a 0 to 8 scale (irritability, speech, thought content, and disruptive/aggressive behavior), while the remaining seven items are graded on a 0 to 4 scale.
Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 30-210. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale is a medical scale used for measuring symptom severity of patients with schizophrenia. It assesses positive symptoms, which refer to an excess or distortion of normal functions (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), and negative symptoms, which represent a diminution or loss of normal functions. The patient is rated from 1 to 7 on 30 different symptoms based on the interview as well as reports of family members or primary care hospital workers.
Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)	2 months at the start of outbreak (T0), 2 months of lockdown period (T1) and 2 months of reopening phase (T2)	Range 0-40. Higher scores mean worse outcome. The scale is a semi-structured interview that consists of 10 core items, 5 measuring time, interference, distress, resistance and control of obsessions (items: 1-5), and 5 identical items measuring compulsions (items: 6-10). The items are rated from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (severe symptoms), and yield a global severity score (range 0-40).