TY - JOUR AU - Feihuan, Cui AU - Sollmann, Ulrich PY - 2020/06/02 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Association between Stress and Illness Anxiety during the Corona-Virus Outbreak in China in 2019 JF - International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture JA - Int J Body Mind Cult VL - 7 IS - 1 SE - Quantitative Study(ies) DO - 10.22122/ijbmc.v7i1.203 UR - https://ijbmc.org/index.php/ijbmc/article/view/203 SP - 37-43 AB - <div><p class="Abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> The Corona-virus (COVID-19) outbreak in China in 2019 can cause psychological traumatic reaction; it can be a risk factor for illness anxiety. The predictors of severe illness anxiety have not yet been explored.</p></div><div><p class="Abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The present research was a cross-sectional study. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used to evaluate stress reaction, and Whiteley Index-7 (WI-7) was applied to measure illness anxiety. Participants with scores above the median WI-7 score were categorized as severe illness anxiety and those with scores lower than the median WI-7 score were categorized as non-severe illness anxiety. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Stress level was divided into mild, moderate, and severe, which were included in the logistic model to estimate the association of stress and illness anxiety.</p></div><div><p class="Abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> After adjusting for covariates, the OR of mild, moderate, and severe stress reaction level was 3.32 (95% CI: 2.21, 4.99), 6.01 (95% CI: 2.99, 12.05), and 14.54 (95% CI: 7.99, 26.47), respectively. The P for trend was less than 0.001 across the levels of stress reaction.</p></div><div><p class="Abstract"><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Severe stress reaction has been associated with severe illness anxiety during the outbreak of COVID-19 in China. The corona crisis intensifies the experience of personal stress that in turn increases the fear of the COVID-19 illness in China. Further qualitative and follow-up studies are essential to illustrate the development of illness anxiety.</p></div> ER -