GENDER BASED COMPARISON OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG COVID-19 PATIENTS AT RAWALPINDI INSTITUTE OF UROLOGY & TRANSPLANTATION PAKISTAN

Objective: To gauge gender based difference in psychological distress among COVID-19 patients admitted at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology & Transplantation Pakistan. Subjects & Methods: A comparative analytical research was carried out among 61 COVID-19 patients admitted at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology & Transplantation during May 2020. Study subjects were enrolled in this research through consecutive sampling. Patients were interviewed to fill in Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K 10). Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 25. Two sample z-tests were applied to determine gender based difference in degree of psychological distress among COVID-19 patients. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Mean age of COVID-19 patients enrolled in this study was 41.6 ± 10.97 years. Out of total 61 COVID-19 patients, 45 (73.8%) were males while 16 (26.2%) were females. Most (71.1%) of the males in our study were psychologically sound and increased proportion of females (31.3%) had severe psychological distress. Females were found to more psychologically distressed in comparison with males (P 0.00). Conclusion: Female COVID-19 patients being more psychologically distressed should be properly counseled and undergo psychotherapy to mitigate the severity of distress.