Depression, anxiety, and stress during the sanitary emergency of COVID-19 in southeastern Mexico

Aim: Evaluate the level of depression, anxiety, and stress; and identify the factors associated with these psychological responses during the third phase of the COVID-19 health emergency in a sample of Mexican population. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted. We performed bivariate and multivariate analyses to identify factors associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Results: We included 997 individuals with a mean age of 35.3 +/- 12.9 years; symptoms of stress. Respondents were more likely to present depression if they were <40 years old (OR 1.73), not having a religion (OR 1.71), if they were currently unemployed (OR 1.54). Factors associated with anxiety were age<40 years old (OR 1.73) and having recent contact with suspected or diagnosed patients with COVID-19 (OR 1.54). Self-perception of insufficient knowledge about COVID-19 disease was associated with stress (OR 1.55). Declaring not feeling safe of COVID-19 infection was associated with depression (OR 2.03), anxiety (OR 1.90), and stress (OR 1.75). Conclusions: The damage to mental health caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is evident; health personnel must pay attention to their psychological state and well-being to take appropriate measures.