About News We May Not Have Been as Anxious, Depressed in Pandemic's First Year as Once Thought Jun 23, 2022 Eric Williamson We May Not Have Been as Anxious, Depressed in Pandemic's First Year as Once Thought Christopher Ruhm, a professor of public policy and economics, has a scholarly interest in how data translates into health care policy. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications) The research was conducted, and now it has become an accepted fact: Clinical depression and anxiety significantly increased among the American population during 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Or did it? University of Virginia professor Christopher Ruhm, who studies public policy and economics, collaborated with Harvard University researchers to look at recently released U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s data. They found that initial reports of increased anxiety and depression appear to have been overstated. Ruhm, of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and team members published their findings with the Journal of the American Medical Association publication JAMA Network Open on June 15. “The conventional expectation was that depression and mental distress would dramatically increase as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and some initial research seemed to be consistent with that expectation,” said Ruhm, who partnered with lead author Ronald C. Kessler of Harvard and Kessler’s colleagues in the Harvard Medical School. “However, the data on which those conclusions were based might have problems, and so we wanted to see if these results would be verified when using better data.” In order to get an early indication about how the pandemic was affecting people, a number of research groups conducted online surveys – among the better known being the CDC’s Household Pulse Survey, a poll started in April 2020 to track the effects of COVID-19 on U.S. residents. When compared to previous government studies, such as phone surveys under the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a monthly state-based trend survey, Household Pulse seemed to chart dramatic increases in the severity of anxiety and depression. The findings were based on self-reported answers to questions that track with clinical standards. But now that consistent data from the BRFSS phone interviewing has been analyzed comparing 2020 with corresponding periods in 2017, 2018 and 2019, it appears that there have been, at most, modest increases in the numbers of people suffering from anxiety and depression. Read Full Story in UVA Today Christopher J. Ruhm Christopher J. Ruhm is a professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Ruhm’s recent research has focused on the role of government policies in helping parents with young children balance the competing needs of work and family life, and on examining how various aspects of health are produced – including the growth and sources of drug poisoning deaths in the United States, the rise in obesity and the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health. Read full bio Related Content Christopher J. Ruhm How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID Research Despite considerable prior research, it remains unclear whether and by how much state COVID-19−related restrictions affected the number of pandemic deaths in the US. In a paper in the JAMA Health Forum, Professor Chris Ruhm finds that on the whole, stricter restrictions saved a substantial number of lives. Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Research How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019. UVA Batten a Hub for Health Economics Research News The health economy is one of the most extensive and complex systems in modern life, impacting people on a deeply personal level. UVA Batten is honored to have three outstanding faculty members whose research expertise is focused on various policy aspects of the field, including Medicaid and Medicare, COVID-related mortality rates, and other topics. How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID News In a paper published in JAMA Health Forum, Professor of Public Policy and Economics Chris Ruhm finds that stringent COVID-19 restrictions saved lives during the pandemic based on a state-by-state analysis of health policies and COVID deaths. Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Christopher J. Ruhm Christopher J. Ruhm is a professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Ruhm’s recent research has focused on the role of government policies in helping parents with young children balance the competing needs of work and family life, and on examining how various aspects of health are produced – including the growth and sources of drug poisoning deaths in the United States, the rise in obesity and the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health. Read full bio
How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID Research Despite considerable prior research, it remains unclear whether and by how much state COVID-19−related restrictions affected the number of pandemic deaths in the US. In a paper in the JAMA Health Forum, Professor Chris Ruhm finds that on the whole, stricter restrictions saved a substantial number of lives.
Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Research How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019.
UVA Batten a Hub for Health Economics Research News The health economy is one of the most extensive and complex systems in modern life, impacting people on a deeply personal level. UVA Batten is honored to have three outstanding faculty members whose research expertise is focused on various policy aspects of the field, including Medicaid and Medicare, COVID-related mortality rates, and other topics.
How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID News In a paper published in JAMA Health Forum, Professor of Public Policy and Economics Chris Ruhm finds that stringent COVID-19 restrictions saved lives during the pandemic based on a state-by-state analysis of health policies and COVID deaths.