Psychological and physical presentations of severe acute respiratory syndrome

Objective To study the relation between psychological symptoms and physical parameters in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) at different stages of the disease. Methods Physical parameters such as SCL 90, chest CT, T lymphocytes and subset and SaO 2 were studied in 29 SARS patients at three different stages ( initial stage, serious stage, rehabilitating stage). Results Patients with SARS showing severe psychological symptoms constituted about 41% (groupⅠ) and patients with SARS showing mild psychological symptoms (groupⅡ) constituted about 59%. There were no change of the psychological symptoms at the three stages in groupⅠ and Ⅱ( P 0 05). Statistical differences were found between physical parameters of groupⅠ and Ⅱ in rehabilitating stage. Conclusions Severe psychological symptoms such as obsession,depression and anxiety were found in a minority of patients with SARS and the psychological symptoms were not related with the change of physical parameters. The majority of the patients with SARS did not have severe psychological symptoms. Whether or not psychological symptoms were related to their personanity needs further study.