Study of the Emotional Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Children from 7 to 15 Years Old of Sevilla

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing changes in life routines, with strict home confinement, which can cause alterations in the emotional state of children and adults; anxiety and depression have been referred to in previous studies. Objectives: Assess the emotional health of schoolchildren aged 7 to 15 years living in the city of Seville between September and November, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods: Multicenter, prospective and cross-sectional study, approved by the local ethics committee. The children were randomly selected in the participating centers and in the waiting rooms they responded anonymously to the CECAD test for anxiety and depression. The tests were processed with a computer program designed to obtain the scales of typical scores by age and sex for the categories evaluated: anxiety, depression, uselessness, irritability, thinking problems and psychophysiological symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed with the GNU PSPP 1.4.1-g79ad47. Results: The sample included 150 individuals: 77 girls (51.3%) and 73 boys (48.7%) with a mean age of 10.85 +/- 2.01 years. The mean values of the studied parameters and psychophysiological symptoms were normal by sex and age for the selected sample. 5% were classified as depressed according to the established cut-off point, 2% presented anxiety and 10% had irritability. Conclusions: We did not obtain higher values of depression and anxiety than the reference samples prior to the pandemic era, which allows us to report that our children between 7-15 years of age are enduring this complex situation without reporting significant alterations in emotional state, up to the date of the present study.