Abstract

AbstractObjective: To determine the effect of the OMICRON variant of the COVID-19 wave on psychological health and its relationship with anemia in undergraduate university students
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 204 undergraduate university students from September to November 2021. After taking consent demographic data, Performa of generalized anxiety disorder was taken along with their complete blood count. Independent sample T-test and Pearson Correlation were done on SPSS 23.
Results: Out of 204 students, 155 were without any anxiety, while 49 had anxiety symptoms with an average age of 21 years. Hemoglobin concentration in non-anxiety students was 12.9mg/dl while 12.5mg/dl in the other group. RBC's count of normal students was 7.2 million/mm3 while that of other group 5.2 million/mm3. MCHC of both groups were around 31 gm/dl. The MCV of normal students was 88.62 fl, while in students having anxiety it was 84.36fl. After using Pearson correlation, it was found that the generalized anxiety score was negatively correlated with hematocrit (p=0.04), MCV (p=0.046) and MCHC (p=0.05).
Conclusion: Students with reduced hematological parameters, especially hematocrit, MCV and MCHC, were more prone to suffer from a generalized anxiety disorder during the COVID-19 OMICRON wave.Key words: COVID-19 Omicron variant, Generalized Anxiety disorders, anemia, undergraduate students.