Introduction: The outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. The Argentinian government adopted a preventive social isolation and lockdown strategy as an exceptional measure in this critical world context. This lockdown strategy has kept a large number of people in isolation and affected many aspects of people’s lives. Objective: To describe the physical and mental health status and possible changes in hygienic, nutritional and, daily habits during quarantine in the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Method: An online anonymous survey was sent to the general population of Buenos Aires city, 434 people answered the questionnaire. Results: Fifty-one percent of respondents were between 40 and 70 years old. Most respondents were female (75.8%) and had higher education (62.2%). Thirty point eight percent had a pre-existing disease and in 50.7% of these cases, the usual symptoms experienced by respondents remained unchanged. The onsets of anxiety (38.2%), depression symptoms (27.9%), sleep disorders (20.5%), and irritability (27.2%) were reported during the isolation period. Also, changes in eating habits (55.5%) were reported. Significant improvement was reported in personal hygiene (80.2%) and home cleaning (81.3%) habits. It was also observed that despite the isolation some people continued doing physical activity. Conclusions: Respondents did not report significant changes in the symptoms of their preexisting diseases and had a positive mindset towards personal hygiene and home cleaning. Also, reported continuity in physical activity during isolation. However, the onset of psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression, irritability and sleep problems, and, changes in eating habits were observed during the quarantine.
Cite this paper
Dillon, C. , Leguizamon, P. P. , Castro, D. , Guelar, V. , Garcia, V. , Feldman, M. , Leis, A. , Romano, M. , Peralta, C. , Rojas, J. I. , Maggi, S. and Viaggio, M. B. (2020). Mental and Physical Health and Hygienic, Nutritional and Daily Habits during Quarantine in COVID-19 Pandemic. Open Access Library Journal, 7, e6934. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1106934.
Qiu, J., Shen, B., Zhao, M., Wang, Z., Xie, B. and Xu, Y. (2020) A Nationwide Survey of Psychological Distress among Chinese People in the COVID-19 Epidemic: Implications and Policy Recommendations. General Psychiatry, 33, e100213.
https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2020-100213
Paraguassu, L. and Mandl, C. (2020) Brazil Confirms First Coronavirus Case in Latin America.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-brazil/brazil-test-confirms-first-coronavirus-case-in-latin-america-source-idUSKCN20K1EU
Pierce, M., Hope, H., Ford, T., Hatch, S., Hotopf, M., John, A., Kontopantelis, E., Webb, R., Wessely, S., McManus, S. and Abel, K.M. (2020) Mental Health before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Probability Sample Survey of the UK Population. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7, 883-892.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30308-4
Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., McIntyre, R.S., Choo, F.N., Tran, B., Ho, R., Sharma, V.K. and Ho, C. (2020) A Longitudinal Study on the Mental Health of General Population during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 87, 40-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.028
Rossi, R., Socci, V., Talevi, D., Mensi, S., Niolu, C., Pacitti, F., Di Marco, A., Rossi, A., Siracusano, A. and Di Lorenzo, G. (2020) COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown Measures Impact on Mental Health among the General Population in Italy. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 790. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00790
Salari, N., Hosseinian-Far, A., Jalali, R., Vaisi-Raygani, A., Rasoulpoor, S., Mohammadi, M., Rasoulpoor, S. and Khaledi-Paveh, B. (2020) Prevalence of Stress, Anxiety, Depression among the General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Globalization and Health, 16, 57.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00589-w
Kwak, N. and Radler, B.A. (2002) Comparison between Mail and Web Surveys: Response Pattern, Respondent Profile, and Data Quality. Journal of Official Statistics, 18, 257-273.
Saxon, D., Garratt, D., Gilroy, P. and Cairns, C. (2003) Collecting Data in the Information Age. Research in Education, 69, 51-66. https://doi.org/10.7227/RIE.69.5
Smith, M.A. and Leigh, B. (1997) Virtual Subjects: Using the Internet as an Alternative Source of Subjects and Research Environment. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 29, 496-505.
https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210601
Underwood, D., Kim, H. and Matier, M. (2000) To Mail or to Web: Comparisons of Survey Response Rates and Respondent Characteristics. 40th Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Cincinnati, 21-24 May 2000, 21-24.
Jackson, L.A., Ervin, K.S., Gardner, P.D. and Schmitt, N. (2001) Gender and the Internet: Women Communicating and Men Searching. Sex Roles, 44, 363.
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010937901821
Lai, J., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., Hu, J., Wei, N., Wu, J., Du, H., Chen, T., Li, R., Tan, H., Kang, L., Yao, L., Huang, M., Wang, H., Wang, G., Liu, Z. and Hu, S. (2020) Factors Associated with Mental Health Outcomes among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA Network Open, 3, e203976.
https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976
Whitmee, S., Haines, A., Beyrer, C., Boltz, F., Capon, A.G., de Souza Dias, B.F., Ezeh, A., Frumkin, H., Gong, P., Head, P., Horton, R., Mace, G.M., Marten, R., Myers, S.S., Nishtar, S., Osofsky, S.A., Pattanayak, S.K., Pongsiri, M.J., Romanelli, C., Soucat, A., Yach, D., et al. (2015) Safeguarding Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch: Report of the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health. The Lancet (London, England), 386, 1973-2028.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60901-1
Nelson, D.R., Adger, W.N. and Brown, K. (2007) Adaptation to Environmental Change: Contributions of a Resilience Framework. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 32, 395-419.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.energy.32.051807.090348
Lim, G.Y., Tam, W.W., Lu, Y., Ho, C.S., Zhang, M.W. and Ho, R.C. (2018) Prevalence of Depression in the Community from 30 Countries between 1994 and 2014. Scientific Reports, 8, Article No. 2861. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21243-x
Sareen, J., Erickson, J., Medved, M.I., Asmundson, G.J., Enns, M.W., Stein, M., Leslie, W., Doupe, M. and Logsetty, S. (2013) Risk Factors for Post-Injury Mental Health Problems. Depression and Anxiety, 30, 321-327.
https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22077