Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Depression Severity and the Use of Drugs Among University of Ibadan Students

Authors

  • Abdulhammed Opeyemi Babatunde Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan; Healthy Africans Platform, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Lordstrong Akano Olaniyi Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • AbdulSobur Olatunde Abdulazeez Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Yeshua Ayokun Adedeji Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Boluwatife Adefunke Bolatito Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Christabel Ijeoma Uche-Orji Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Adeniyi Abraham Adesola Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Habib Ayomide Shobanke Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Dimeji AbdulSobur Olawuyi Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Dolapo Michael Babalola Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2021.837

Keywords:

depression, COVID-19, Drug abuse, students, mental health

Abstract

Background: Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, measures such as nationwide lockdowns have been implemented. The sudden disruption of activities coupled with fear could trigger or aggravate mental illnesses and consequently, increase substance use as a coping mechanism. This study then sought to assess the impact of the lockdown on depression and substance use amongst students in a tertiary institution in Ibadan city, Nigeria.

Methods: A self-administered 26 questions online questionnaire was employed for data collection of socio-demographic characteristics, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess depression, and a section on the use of psychoactive drugs during lockdown. Data were statistically analyzed using IBM's SPSS and Microsoft Excel.

Results: We gathered 102 responses, 54.9% were males. Most of the respondents had mild depression (41.2%), followed by 36.3% that reported not having an episode of depression, 15.7% moderate, 4.9% moderately severe, and 2% severe depression. Female had more depressive episodes than males (p=0.185). Only 4% reported substance use since the pandemic, all were male. At a 95% confidence interval, there was no significant association between the level of depression and any socio-demographic characteristics of students and between the level of depression and drug use.

Conclusions: According to this study, lockdown and other mitigation strategies implemented during the pandemic were not found to be associated with drug use. A limitation of this study is the cross-sectional design, as a result, a larger multicenter study is needed to ascertain the possible association between lockdown, depressive symptoms, and drug use among students.

References

Wang Y, Grunewald M, Perlman S. Coronaviruses: An Updated Overview of Their Replication and Pathogenesis. Methods Mol Biol. 2020;2203:1-29.

Salari N, Hosseinian-Far A, Jalali R, Vaisi-Raygani A, Rasoulpoor S, Mohammadi M, et al. Prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Global Health. 2020 Jul 6;16(1):57.

World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. WHO announces COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Available from: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/news/news/2020/3/who-announces-covid-19-outbreak-a-pandemic. Last updated Mar 12, 2020; cited Sep 9, 2020.

Zhang Y, Ma ZF. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and quality of life among local residents in Liaoning Province China: a cross sectional study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 31;17(7):2381.

Mazza C, Ricci E, Biondi S, Colasanti M, Ferracuti S, Napoli C, et al. A Nationwide Survey of Psychological Distress among Italian People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 May 2;17(9):3165.

Holmes EA, O’Connor RC, Perry VH Tracey I, Wessely S, Arseneault L, et al. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 Jun;7(6): 547-60.

Ethman CK, Abdalla SM, Cohen GH, Sampson L, Vivier PM, Galea S . Prevalence of depression symptoms in US adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Sep 1;3(9):e2019686

Alharbi R, Alsuhaibani K, Almarshad A, Alyahya A. Depression and anxiety among high school students at Qassim region. J Family Prim Care. 2019 Feb;8(2):504-10.

Gulf Bend Center. Substance/Medication-Induced Depressive disorder. Available from: https://www.gulfbend.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=12981&en=. Last updated 2008; cited Sep 20, 2020.

Smith K. PSYCOM. Substance abuse and Depression. Available from: https://www.psycom.net/depression-substance-abuse. Last updated November 2018; cited Sept 20, 2020.

Wright K, Sarangi A, Ibrahim Y. The psychiatric effects of COVID-19 thus far: a review of the current literature. The Chronicles. 2020Jul.23;8(35):17-8.

Sarangi A, Mcmahon T, Gude J. Benzodiazepine Misuse: An Epidemic Within a Pandemic. Cureus. 2021;13(6): e15816.

Sarangi A, Eskander N. The Worsening Outcomes of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on Patients with a History of Alcoholism, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 2021;39:3, 342-347

Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13.

Cameron IM, Crawford JR, Lawton K, Reid IC. Psychometric comparison of PHQ-9 and HADS for measuring depression severity in primary care. Br J Gen Pract. 2008 Jan;58(546):32-6.

Islam MA, Barna SD, Raihan H, Khan MNA, Hossain MT. Depression and anxiety among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: A web-based cross-sectional survey. PLoS One. 2020 Aug 26;15(8):e0238162.

Lara E, Caballero FF, Rico-Uribe LA, Olaya B, Haro JM, Ayuso-Mateos JL, et al. Are loneliness and social isolation associated with cognitive decline? Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2019 Nov;34(11):1613-22.

Altena E, Baglioni C, Espie CA, Ellis J, Gavriloff D, Holzinger B, et al. Dealing with sleep problems during home confinement due to the COVID-19 outbreak: Practical recommendations from a task force of the European CBT-I Academy. J Sleep Res. 2020 Aug;29(4):e13052.

Li Y, Qin Q, Sun Q, Vgontzas AN, Tang X. Insomnia and psychological reactions during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. J. Clin. Sleep Med. 2020 Aug 15;16(8):1417-18.

Huang Y, Zhao N. Generalized anxiety disorder, depressive symptoms and sleep quality during COVID-19 outbreak in China: a web-based cross-sectional survey. Psychiatry Res. 2020 Jun;288:112954.

Solomou I, Constantinidou F. Prevalence and Predictors of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Compliance with Precautionary Measures: Age and Sex Matter. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020 Jul 8;17(14):4924.

McCullough ME, Larson DB. Religion and depression: a review of the literature. Twin Res. 1999 Jun;2(2):126–36.

Vasegh S, Mohammadi MR. Religiosity, anxiety, and depression among a sample of iranian medical students. Int. J. Psychiatry Med. 2007 Jan;37(2):213–27.

Gureje O, Lasebikan VO, Ephraim-Oluwanuga O, et al. Community study of knowledge of and attitude to mental illness in Nigeria. Br J Psychiatry. 2005 May;186:436–41.

Meo SA, Abukhalaf AA, Alomar AA, Sattar K, Klonoff DC. COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact of Quarantine on Medical Students' Mental Wellbeing and Learning Behaviors. Pak J Med Sci. 2020 May;36(COVID19-S4):S43-S48.

Blasi MD, Giardina A, Giordano C, Coco GL, Tosto C, Billieux J, et al. Problematic video game use as an emotional coping strategy: Evidence from a sample of MMORPG gamers. J Behav Addict. 2019 Mar 1;8(1):25-34.

Jacobs DF. A general theory of addictions: A new theoretical model. J Gambling Stud. 1986 Mar;2:15–31.

Khantzian EJ. Addiction as a self-regulation disorder and the role of self-medication. Addiction. 2013 Apr;108(4):668-9.

Király O, Urbán R, Griffiths MD, Ágoston C, Nagygyörgy K, Kökönyei G, et al. The mediating effect of gaming motivation between psychiatric symptoms and problematic online gaming: an online survey. J Med Internet Res. 2015 Apr 7;17(4):e88.

King DL, Delfabbro PH, Billieux J, Potenza MN. Problematic online gaming and the COVID-19 pandemic. J Behav Addict. 2020 Apr 29;9(2):184-6.

Ko C.H., Yen J.-Y. 2020. Impact of COVID-19 on gaming disorder: monitoring and prevention. J Behav Addict. 2020 Jun 6;9(2):187-9.

Mestre-Bach G, Blycker G, Potenza M. Pornography use in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic. J Behav Addict. 2020 Jun;9(2):181-3.

Abrahao KP, Salinas AG, Lovinger DM. Alcohol and the Brain: Neuronal Molecular Targets, Synapses, and Circuits. Neuron.2017 Dec 20;96(6):1223-38.

Khantzian EJ. The self-medication hypothesis of substance use disorders: a reconsideration and recent applications. Harv Rev Psychiatry. 1997 Jan-Feb;4(5):231-44.

Zato?ski WA, Wojty?a A. From the editors. J Health Inequal. 2019 Dec 30;5(2):121.

Chodkiewicz J, Talarowska M, Miniszewska J, Nawrocka N, Bilinski P. Alcohol Consumption Reported during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Initial Stage. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jun 29;17(13):4677.

Rudenstine S, McNeal K, Schulder T, Ettman CK, Hernandez M, Gvozdieva K, et al. Depression and Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic in an Urban, Low-Income Public University Sample. J Trauma Stress. 2020 Oct 12; 34(1):12-22.

Published

2021-12-16 — Updated on 2022-01-06

Versions

How to Cite

Babatunde, A. O., Olaniyi, L. A. ., Abdulazeez, A. O. ., Adedeji, Y. A. ., Bolatito, B. A. ., Uche-Orji, C. I. ., Adesola, A. A. ., Shobanke, . H. A., Olawuyi, D. A. ., & Babalola, D. M. . (2022). Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Depression Severity and the Use of Drugs Among University of Ibadan Students. International Journal of Medical Students, 9(4), 264–268. https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2021.837 (Original work published December 16, 2021)

Issue

Section

Original Article

Categories

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.