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Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, a comparison between populations in Poland, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
Sci Rep. 2023 03 03; 13(1):3602.SR

Abstract

Ukraine has been embroiled in an increasing war since February 2022. In addition to Ukrainians, the Russo-Ukraine war has affected Poles due to the refugee crisis and the Taiwanese, who are facing a potential crisis with China. We examined the mental health status and associated factors in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. The data will be used for future reference as the war is still ongoing. From March 8 to April 26, 2022, we conducted an online survey using snowball sampling techniques in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. Depression, anxiety, and stress were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DASS)-21 item scale; post-traumatic stress symptoms by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and coping strategies by the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE). We used multivariate linear regression to identify factors significantly associated with DASS-21 and IES-R scores. There were 1626 participants (Poland: 1053; Ukraine: 385; Taiwan: 188) in this study. Ukrainian participants reported significantly higher DASS-21 (p < 0.001) and IES-R (p < 0.01) scores than Poles and Taiwanese. Although Taiwanese participants were not directly involved in the war, their mean IES-R scores (40.37 ± 16.86) were only slightly lower than Ukrainian participants (41.36 ± 14.94). Taiwanese reported significantly higher avoidance scores (1.60 ± 0.47) than the Polish (0.87 ± 0.53) and Ukrainian (0.91 ± 0.5) participants (p < 0.001). More than half of the Taiwanese (54.3%) and Polish (80.3%) participants were distressed by the war scenes in the media. More than half (52.5%) of the Ukrainian participants would not seek psychological help despite a significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress. Multivariate linear regression analyses found that female gender, Ukrainian and Polish citizenship, household size, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping were significantly associated with higher DASS-21 and IES-R scores after adjustment of other variables (p < 0.05). We have identified mental health sequelae in Ukrainian, Poles, and Taiwanese with the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war. Risk factors associated with developing depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms include female gender, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping. Early resolution of the conflict, online mental health interventions, delivery of psychotropic medications, and distraction techniques may help to improve the mental health of people who stay inside and outside Ukraine.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Chudzicka-Czupała A
Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice, Poland.
Hapon N
Department of Psychology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine.
Chiang SK
Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Level 9, NUHS Tower Block, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119228, Singapore.
Żywiołek-Szeja M
Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice, Poland.
Karamushka L
G. S. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology, National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Lee CT
Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Level 9, NUHS Tower Block, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119228, Singapore.
Grabowski D
Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice, Poland.
Paliga M
Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Psychology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
Rosenblat JD
Braxia Scientific Corp, University of Toronto, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Ho R
Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Level 9, NUHS Tower Block, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119228, Singapore. pcmrhcm@nus.edu.sg. Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. pcmrhcm@nus.edu.sg.
McIntyre RS
Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation, Toronto, Canada.
Chen YL
Department of Healthcare Administration, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan. Department of Psychology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.

MeSH

FemaleHumansPolandTaiwanDepressionStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticUkraineAnxiety

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

36869035

Citation

Chudzicka-Czupała, Agata, et al. "Depression, Anxiety and Post-traumatic Stress During the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War, a Comparison Between Populations in Poland, Ukraine, and Taiwan." Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, 2023, p. 3602.
Chudzicka-Czupała A, Hapon N, Chiang SK, et al. Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, a comparison between populations in Poland, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):3602.
Chudzicka-Czupała, A., Hapon, N., Chiang, S. K., Żywiołek-Szeja, M., Karamushka, L., Lee, C. T., Grabowski, D., Paliga, M., Rosenblat, J. D., Ho, R., McIntyre, R. S., & Chen, Y. L. (2023). Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, a comparison between populations in Poland, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 3602. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28729-3
Chudzicka-Czupała A, et al. Depression, Anxiety and Post-traumatic Stress During the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War, a Comparison Between Populations in Poland, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Sci Rep. 2023 03 3;13(1):3602. PubMed PMID: 36869035.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, a comparison between populations in Poland, Ukraine, and Taiwan. AU - Chudzicka-Czupała,Agata, AU - Hapon,Nadiya, AU - Chiang,Soon-Kiat, AU - Żywiołek-Szeja,Marta, AU - Karamushka,Liudmyla, AU - Lee,Charlotte T, AU - Grabowski,Damian, AU - Paliga,Mateusz, AU - Rosenblat,Joshua D, AU - Ho,Roger, AU - McIntyre,Roger S, AU - Chen,Yi-Lung, Y1 - 2023/03/03/ PY - 2022/10/19/received PY - 2023/01/24/accepted PY - 2023/3/3/entrez PY - 2023/3/4/pubmed PY - 2023/3/8/medline SP - 3602 EP - 3602 JF - Scientific reports JO - Sci Rep VL - 13 IS - 1 N2 - Ukraine has been embroiled in an increasing war since February 2022. In addition to Ukrainians, the Russo-Ukraine war has affected Poles due to the refugee crisis and the Taiwanese, who are facing a potential crisis with China. We examined the mental health status and associated factors in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. The data will be used for future reference as the war is still ongoing. From March 8 to April 26, 2022, we conducted an online survey using snowball sampling techniques in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. Depression, anxiety, and stress were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DASS)-21 item scale; post-traumatic stress symptoms by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and coping strategies by the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE). We used multivariate linear regression to identify factors significantly associated with DASS-21 and IES-R scores. There were 1626 participants (Poland: 1053; Ukraine: 385; Taiwan: 188) in this study. Ukrainian participants reported significantly higher DASS-21 (p < 0.001) and IES-R (p < 0.01) scores than Poles and Taiwanese. Although Taiwanese participants were not directly involved in the war, their mean IES-R scores (40.37 ± 16.86) were only slightly lower than Ukrainian participants (41.36 ± 14.94). Taiwanese reported significantly higher avoidance scores (1.60 ± 0.47) than the Polish (0.87 ± 0.53) and Ukrainian (0.91 ± 0.5) participants (p < 0.001). More than half of the Taiwanese (54.3%) and Polish (80.3%) participants were distressed by the war scenes in the media. More than half (52.5%) of the Ukrainian participants would not seek psychological help despite a significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress. Multivariate linear regression analyses found that female gender, Ukrainian and Polish citizenship, household size, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping were significantly associated with higher DASS-21 and IES-R scores after adjustment of other variables (p < 0.05). We have identified mental health sequelae in Ukrainian, Poles, and Taiwanese with the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war. Risk factors associated with developing depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms include female gender, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping. Early resolution of the conflict, online mental health interventions, delivery of psychotropic medications, and distraction techniques may help to improve the mental health of people who stay inside and outside Ukraine. SN - 2045-2322 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/36869035/Depression_anxiety_and_post_traumatic_stress_during_the_2022_Russo_Ukrainian_war_a_comparison_between_populations_in_Poland_Ukraine_and_Taiwan_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -