PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WITH COVID-19 ASSOCIATED PNEUMONIA

Abstract

Introduction. Patients with COVID-19 often face a wide range of psychological features that can persist for a long time after the acute phase of the disease. Numerous studies have shown an increased prevalence of mental disorders among people with COVID-19 compared to the general population or patients with other respiratory diseases.

The aim of the study – to analyse the level of optimism/pessimism among patients with COVID-19 pneumonia depending on the category of disease severity.

The main part. The first stage of our study was a retrospective examination of the medical records of 27 patients who were hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia (confirmed by computed tomography) with a positive smear test result for SARS-CoV-2 virus. The severity of pneumonia was calculated using the PORT scale. The second stage of our study was a telephone survey to assess the level of optimism of the participants of the first stage of our study 6-12 months after discharge from the hospital, using The Life Orientation Test-Revised.

Assessment of the level of optimism in patients with COVID-19-associated pneumonia shows a decrease in its level with an increase in the category of pneumonia complexity. At the same time, in group III, the level of optimism was significantly lower by 26.2 % compared with the comparison group. It is worth noting a significant increase in the percentage of people with high pessimism and, accordingly, a decrease in the percentage of people with high optimism as COVID-19-associated pneumonia progresses. The analysis of optimism components showed the vast majority of positive responses to the statement ‘In uncertain times, I usually expect the best’ in group II (92.31 %) and group III (71.42 %) and the largest number of negative responses to the statement ‘I’m always optimistic about my future’ in group III (50.00 %). The analysis of pessimism components showed the vast majority of affirmative responses to the statements ‘I hardly ever expect things to go my way’ (78.56 %), ‘I rarely count on good things happening to me’ (71.94 %) in group III patients, which, however, did not significantly differ from the data in group II patients.

Conclusions. Understanding psychological characteristics is critical to developing effective diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation strategies aimed at improving the mental health and quality of life of individuals after COVID-19-associated pneumonia.