High Prevalence of Anxiety Symptoms in Venezuelan Adults during the Beginning of the Venezuelan Crisis. Data from a National Representative Sample. The EVESCAM Study

Venezuelans have been living in a humanitarian crisis since 2014 and the effect of this adverse environment on the mental of the population is unknown. This article aims to determinate the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms of adults and factors related during the beginning of the humanitarian crisis of Venezuela. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were determined using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). 3,241 adults were evaluated with mean age of 41.1 ± 15.7 years. Anxiety prevalence was 14.7% (women 19.3% and men 9.5%; p < 0.001) and depression prevalence was 3.1% (women 4.0% and men 2.2%; p < 0.001). Independently of age and gender, anxiety was associated with hypertension and tobacco use, and depressive symptoms was associated with smokeless tobacco use, and sedentary lifestyle. Compared to subjects with high/middle socioeconomic status (SES), those with poor and extremely poor SES were more likely to have anxiety, and depression.