Evaluation of Anxiety Statuso Adolescents with COVID 19

Objective: Adolescents with COVID-19 are usually asymptomatic or they have milder symptoms, but the psychological effects of the disease on adolescents is unknown. In our knowledge, to date no published studies have evaluated the anxiety status of adolescents with COVID-19 infection. In this study, we aimed to investigate the anxiety status of adolescents with COVID-19. Material and Methods: Eighteen adolescents hospitalized with moderate symptoms of COVID-19 and seventeen adolescents non hospitalized with mild symptoms of COVID-19 and 29 healthy adolescents were enrolled in the study. The State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire was performed to both groups and scores were compared. Results: The adolescents with COVID-19 had significantly higher anxiety scores in the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) (p:0.019) and the Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI) (p:0.048) than healthy adolescents. Comparison of adolescents with mild and moderate symptoms showed no significant difference both in SAI (p:1.0) and TAI (p:0.98) scores. Conclusion: COVID-19 has a psychological impact on adolescents causing higher anxiety scores independent from the disease severity.