Mental health in Germany in the first weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian war

• Verfasst von: Gottschick, Cornelia [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Diexer, Sophie [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Massag, Janka [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Klee, Bianca [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Broda, Anja [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Purschke, Oliver [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Binder, Mascha [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Sedding, Daniel [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Frese, Thomas [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Girndt, Matthias [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Höll, Jessica [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Michl, Patrick [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Gekle, Michael [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Mikolajczyk, Rafael [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Mental health in Germany in the first weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian war
• Verf.angabe: Cornelia Gottschick, Sophie Diexer, Janka Massag, Bianca Klee, Anja Broda, Oliver Purschke, Mascha Binder, Daniel Sedding, Thomas Frese, Matthias Girndt, Jessica I. Hoell, Patrick Michl, Michael Gekle and Rafael Mikolajczyk
• E-Jahr: 2023
• Jahr: 14 April 2023
• Umfang: 7 S.
• Illustrationen: Diagramme
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: BJPsych Open
• Ort Quelle: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015
• Jahr Quelle: 2023
• Band/Heft Quelle: 9(2023), 3, Artikel-ID e66, Seite 1-7
• ISSN Quelle: 2056-4724
• DOI: doi:10.1192/bjo.2023.21
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1848495056

Abstract

Anxiety disorders; depressive disorders; epidemiology; rating scales; statistical methodology

Abstract

Background: In the connected world, although societies are not directly involved in a military conflict, they are exposed to media reports of violence. Aims: We assessed the effects of such exposures on mental health in Germany during the military conflict in Ukraine. Method: We used the German population-based cohort for digital health research, DigiHero, launching a survey on the eighth day of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Of the 27 509 cohort participants from the general population, 19 444 (70.7%) responded within 17 days. We measured mental health and fear of the impact of war compared with other fears (natural disasters or health-related). Results: In a subsample of 4441 participants assessed twice, anxiety in the population (measured by the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 screener) was higher in the first weeks of war than during the strongest COVID-19 restrictions. Anxiety was elevated across the whole age spectrum, and the mean was above the cut-off for mild anxiety. Over 95% of participants expressed various degrees of fear of the impact of war, whereas the percentage for other investigated fears was 0.47–0.82. A one-point difference in the fear of the impact of war was associated with a 2.5 point (95% CI 2.42–2.58) increase in anxiety (11.9% of the maximum anxiety score). For emotional distress, the increase was 0.67 points (0.66–0.68) (16.75% of the maximum score). Conclusions: The population in Germany reacted to the Russo-Ukrainian war with substantial distress, exceeding reactions during the strongest restrictions in the COVID-19 pandemic. Fear of the impact of war was associated with worse mental health.