The Association Between Physical and Mental Health and Face Mask Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of Two Countries With Different Views and Practices

作者：Cuiyan Wang, Agata Chudzicka‐Czupała, Damian Grabowski, Riyu Pan, Katarzyna Adamus, Xiaoyang Wan, Mateusz Hetnał, Yilin Tan, Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo, Linkang Xu, Roger S. McIntyre, Jessica Quek, Roger Ho, Cyrus S. H. Ho · 发表于：Frontiers in Psychiatry · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.3389/fpsyt.2020.569981 · 被引用次数：331 · 研究领域：COVID-19 and Mental Health、Infection Control and Ventilation、COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts

BACKGROUND: The physical and mental health of citizens living in a country that encouraged face masks (China) and discouraged face masks (Poland) during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic remained unknown. We conducted a cross-country study to compare the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Poles and Chinese. This study aimed to compare the levels of psychological impact of pandemic and levels of anxiety and depression between China and Poland. METHODS: The survey collected information on demographic data, physical symptoms, contact history, and precautionary measures. The psychological impact was assessed using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and mental health status was assessed by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The chi-squared test was used to analyze the differences in categorical variables between the two populations. Linear regression was used to calculate the bivariate associations between independents variables (e.g., physical symptoms and precautionary measures) and dependent variables (e.g., mental health outcomes). RESULTS: This study included a total of 2,266 respondents from both countries (1,056 Poles and 1,210 Chinese). There were significantly less Polish respondents who wore face masks (Poles: 35.0%; Chinese: 96.8% p < 0.001). Significantly more Polish respondents reported physical symptoms resembling COVID-19 infection (p < 0.001), recent medical consultation (p < 0.01), recent COVID-19 testing (p < 0.001)...