• Lee Smith, Louis Jacob, Anita Yakkundi, Daragh McDermott, Nicola C Armstrong, Yvonne Barnett, Guillermo F López-Sánchez, Suzanne Martin, Laurie Butler, and Mark A Tully.
• The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. Electronic address: Lee.Smith@anglia.ac.uk.
• Psychiatry Res. 2020 Sep 1; 291: 113138.

BackgroundThe aim was to assess the impact of COVID-19 self-isolation/social distancing on mental health, and potential correlates, among a sample of the UK population.MethodsA cross-sectional study. Mental health was measured using the Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventory. Mental wellbeing was measured using The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Data collected on predictors included sex, age, marital status, employment, annual income, region, current smoking, current alcohol consumption, physical multimorbidity, any physical symptoms experienced during self-isolation/social distancing, and the number of days of self-isolation/social distancing. The association between potential predictors and poor mental health was studied using a multivariable logistic regression.Results932 participants were included. Factors associated with poor mental health were sex (reference: male; female: OR=1.89, 95%CI=1.34-2.68), age (18-24 years: reference;45-54 years: OR=0.27, 95%CI=0.14-0.53; 55-64 years: OR=0.24, 95%CI=0.12-0.47; 65-74years: OR=0.10, 95% CI=0.05-0.22; and ≥75years: OR=0.08,95% CI=0.03-0.24),annual income (<£15,000: reference; £25,000-<£40,000: OR=0.54, 95% CI=0.31-0.93; £40,000-<£60,000: OR=0.39, 95% CI=0.22-0.69; and ≥£60,000: OR=0.38, 95% CI=0.21-0.67), current smoking (yes: OR=2.59, 95%CI=1.62-4.20), and physical multimorbidity (OR=2.35, 95%CI=1.61-3.46).ConclusionsIn this sample of UK adults self-isolating/social distancing females, younger age groups, those with a lower annual income, current smokers and those with physical multimorbidity were associated with higher levels of poor mental health.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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