Self-Reported Mental Health Measures of Incoming Collegiate Student-Athletes With a History of COVID-19.

MENTAL depression risk factors; COLLEGE students; STATISTICS; STATE-Trait Anxiety Inventory; COVID-19; SELF-evaluation; ONE-way analysis of variance; HEALTH outcome assessment; CASE-control method; SATISFACTION; RACE; SPORTS; SURVEYS; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; CHI-squared test; ANXIETY; DATA analysis; STATISTICAL sampling

People with a history of COVID-19 may experience persistent neuropsychological disruptions such as lower satisfaction with life, depression, and anxiety. Although student-athletes are at low risk for severe COVID-19 complications, the effect of COVID-19 on mental health has not been elucidated. To compare patient-reported mental health outcomes for incoming collegiate athletes with (COVID+) or without (COVID−) a history of COVID-19. Case-control study. Laboratory. A total of 178 student-athletes, consisting of 79 in the COVID+ group (44.3%; age = 18.90 ± 0.16 years) and 99 in the COVID− group (55.6%; age = 18.95 ± 0.16 years). Participants completed the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Unadjusted 1-way analyses of variance were conducted across all patient-reported outcomes. Analyses of covariance were calculated to determine the interaction of COVID-19 group, sex, and race and ethnicity on outcomes. Post hoc Bonferroni testing was performed to identify specific differences between groups. A χ2 analysis was computed to compare the number of athletes in each group who met the standard clinical cut points. We observed a between-groups difference for HADS depression (P =.047), whereby athletes in the COVID+ group had higher ratings (2.86 ± 0.26). We found group differences for the SWLS (P =.02), HADS anxiety (P =.003), and STAI state anxiety (P =.01) such that all scores were higher for the COVID+ group in the adjusted model. Post hoc testing revealed that female student-athletes in the COVID+ group had worse HADS anxiety (P =.01) and STAI trait anxiety (P =.002) scores than individuals in all other groups. We did not demonstrate differences between groups in the percentage of responses below established diagnostic thresholds. Incoming collegiate student-athletes who reported a previous COVID-19 diagnosis displayed higher depression scores, suggesting that clinicians may need to provide appropriate identification and referral for mental health conditions. However, we were encouraged that most participants, regardless of a history of COVID-19 diagnosis, had mental health scores that did not exceed established diagnostic threshold values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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