Mental Health Status of Patients with Bipolar Disorder during COVID-19 Lockdown, A Case Control Study at El Khanka Psychiatric Hospital

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a number of measures including lockdown and social distancing. These measures affected mental health in healthy individuals and mentally affected patients. Individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) constitute an especially vulnerable group and studies focusing on effects of these measures are still lacking. The current study aimed to assess the mental health status of BD patients during the pandemic, particularly as regard increasing the risk of relapse and appearance of other psychiatric comorbidities and to assess and compare the immediate stress and psychological impact experienced by patients with BD and people without psychiatric illnesses during the pandemic. Results A total of 103 participants were included in the study, 50 in the cases group and 53 in the control group. Concerning demographic data, there was statistically significance difference between the two groups regarding gender, marital status, education, employment and socio-economic status. Study of COVID-19 impact on psychometric data revealed significantly higher score of IES-R in controls compared to cases. Comparison of COVID-19 affected cases and COVID-19 not affected cases revealed statistically significant association between IES-R median score result and COVID effects. Conclusion There was no significant difference between cases and controls regarding scales of depression, anxiety or insomnia. However, COVID-19 related containment measures significantly affected routine life stress and acute stress.