Prevalence of Anxiety Disorder, Post COVID-19 Infected among People in Babylon

Abstract Background: pandemic related corona virus presented with high level of mortality rate, which produced multiple health problems related psychological aspect, as well as other aspects of health dimensions worldwide. Anxiety disorder is the common health problem after exposure to COVID-19 infected.  Many people suffering from psychological disorder due to the severity and mortality rate of corona virus worldwide.                                                                                                                                              Objective(s): The study aimed to assess the prevalence of anxiety disorder post COVID-19 Infected and to identify the correlation between anxiety disorder and sociodemographic characteristics for people after exposed to the corona virus in Babylon.   Methodology: A cross-sectional design was employed to achieve the objectives of the study for the period from1st September 2022 to 30 June 2023. A purposive sample of (434) individuals who are living in Babylon city, the sampling method using snowball technique to access the participants of the study. The data for this study was collected by using (Sherman A. Lee scale, 2020) tool, to assess the prevalence of anxiety disorder, post COVID-19 infected in Babylon and to identify the correlation between sociodemographic characteristics and anxiety level.           The assessment test scale consists of two parts, demographic data which consist of five items include age, gender, marital status, level of education and economic status, part two consist of five questions  to measure the prevalence of anxiety post    COVID – 19 infected. Each question has score include  (0) for Not at all, (1) for Rare, less than a day or two, (2) for several days (3) for more than 7 days and (4) for nearly every day over the last 2 weeks.            A good validity and reliability in a number of studies. The validity of the questionnaire was tested by presenting it to (10) experts in medical field. The reliability of the instrument was tested by using data for 10 infected individuals of COVID- 19 who were excluded from the study sample. Cronbach's alphas test was calculated to determine the internal consistency of the study instrument. The overall internal consistency for the questionnaire was accepted which recorded:  α=0.86.    Results: The summary statistics related sociodemographic characteristics showed that the majority of participants in the study are between age group of (20- 39) years old (56.2%). More than half of participants are female (53.5%). Regarding level of education majority of participants have college level of education, which recorded (28.1%). Related marital status more than a half of study sample are single (57.6%). lastly, (51.6%) of participants have barely sufficient level regarding with economic status.             Related assessment of prevalence of anxiety disorder post COVID-19 infected shows, that majority of participant within low and fair levels of anxiety which recorded (49.8%) and (24.4%) respectively. This table reveals that there is a strong negative correlation between anxiety disorder and gender as well as correlation between anxiety and level of education, but there is no correlation between other variables of age, marital status and economic status.  .          Conclusions:  The result of the study shows that anxiety disorder post COVID-19 infected presented as a low to fair level among the sample of study, in addition to that, gender recoded high negative correlation as well as the level of education showed negative correlation with anxiety disorder.   Recommendations: Conducting extra studies to obtain more knowledge related anxiety disorder and COVID - 19 infected. Produce an educational program to increase health awareness among people, associated with COVID - 19 infected and how to prevent it help them to decrease suffering from anxiety disorder. The media should play a greater role related to increase awareness to reduce anxiety level among population.   Key word: Prevalence, Anxiety Disorder, COVID-19.