The study, led by academics at the University of Queensland, Australia, recorded 76 million additional cases of anxiety disorders and 53 million of major depressive disorder as COVID-19 spread in 2020. "Sadly, for numerous reasons, women were always more likely to be worse affected by the social and economic consequences of the pandemic," study co-author Alize Ferrari said. That made it "the first global insight into the burden of depressive and anxiety disorders during the pandemic," the authors of a linked comment piece who were not involved in the study said. It found there was an estimated 28 percent increase in cases of major depressive disorder, to 246 million cases, up from an estimated 193 million cases had the pandemic not happened. There was a similar 26 percent increase in estimated cases of anxiety, with an estimated 374 million cases compared to 298 million without the pandemic.

Source: bd News24 October 08, 2021 22:30 UTC