Associations between Anxiety and Depression Symptoms and Medical Care Avoidance during COVID-19

Excerpt

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, emergency health care utilization has acutely declined by 23% for heart attacks, 20% for strokes, and 10% for hyperglycemic crises.¹ Ambulatory visits have also declined by nearly 60%.² The lack of health care utilization is concerning as it may result in significant medical complications resulting from untreated medical problems.¹ Little is known about what is driving these declines in health care utilization. A study from Italy suggested that fear of COVID-19 infection may be one such factor.³ Recent research has documented pervasive anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.^{4, 5} We conducted this study to estimate the association between mental health symptoms and medical care avoidance among US adults. …