Depression levels of the general public increases during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: A web-based cross-sectional survey

Table 1 Demographic characteristics and Beck Depression Inventory scores of the respondents classified into various sub-samples (n = 2001)

Demographic factors	n (%)
Gender
Male	740 (36.98)
Female	1261 (63.02)
Age (years old)
13-30	1177 (58.82)
31-50	770 (38.48)
> 50	54 (2.70)
Education level
High school or below	309 (15.44)
College or above	1692 (84.56)
Marital status
Unmarried	874 (43.68)
Married	1057 (52.82)
Divorced/widow	70 (3.50)
Occupation
Health professional	384 (19.19)
The others	1617 (80.81)
Location of residence
High epidemic areas	577 (28.84)
Low epidemic areas	1424 (71.16)
Quarantine status
No	1965 (98.20)
Yes	36 (1.80)
Preventative measures taken
Yes	1828 (91.35)
No	173 (8.65)
If returned to work
Yes	1621 (81.01)
No	380 (18.99)

Table 2 Beck Depression Inventory scores of respondents classified into various sub-samples, n (%)

Sub-samples	BDI scores
	0-13	14-19	20-28	29-63	χ2	P value
Gender					4.417	0.220
Male (n = 740)	441 (59.59)	81 (10.95)	137 (18.51)	81 (10.95)
Female (n = 1261)	748 (59.32)	174 (13.80)	205 (16.26)	134 (10.63)
Age (years old)					32.143	< 0.001
13-30 (n = 1177)	730 (62.02)	156 (13.25)	200 (16.99)	91 (7.73)
31-50 (n = 770)	425 (55.19)	91 (11.82)	138 (17.92)	116 (15.06)
> 50 (n = 54)	34 (62.96)	8 (14.81)	4 (7.41)	8 (14.81)
Education level					106.745	< 0.001
High school or below (n = 309)	125 (40.45)	31 (10.03)	75 (24.27)	78 (25.24)
College or above (n = 1692)	1064 (62.88)	224 (13.24)	267 (15.78)	137 (8.10)
Marital status					247.439	< 0.001
Unmarried (n = 874)	558 (63.84)	119 (13.62)	146 (16.70)	51 (5.84)
Married (n = 1057)	621 (58.75)	132 (12.49)	186 (17.60)	118 (11.16)
Divorced/widow (n = 70)	10 (14.29)	4 (5.71)	10 (14.29)	46 (65.71)
Occupation					26.911	< 0.001
Health professional (n = 384)	188 (48.96)	51 (13.28)	84 (21.88)	61 (15.89)
The others (n = 1617)	1001 (61.90)	204 (12.62)	258 (15.96)	154 (9.52)
Location of residence					9.508	0.023
High epidemic areas (n = 577)	324 (56.15)	70 (12.13)	122 (21.14)	61 (10.57)
Low epidemic areas (n = 1424)	865 (60.74)	185 (12.99)	220 (15.45)	154 (10.81)
Quarantine status					65.600	< 0.001
No (n = 1965)	1186 (60.36)	252 (12.82)	328 (16.69)	199 (10.13)
Yes (n = 36)	3 (8.33)	3 (8.33)	14 (38.89)	16 (44.44)
If preventative measures taken					426.533	< 0.001
Yes (n = 1828)	1169 (63.95)	244 (13.35)	294 (16.08)	121 (6.62)
More than seven (n = 173)	20 (11.56)	11 (6.36)	48 (27.75)	94 (54.34)
If returned to work					46.804	< 0.001
Yes (n = 1621)	1003 (61.88)	208 (12.83)	271 (16.72)	139 (8.57)
No (n = 380)	186 (48.95)	47 (12.37)	71 (18.68)	76 (20.00)

BDI: Beck Depression Inventory.

Table 3 The predictors of Beck Depression Inventory scores using multiple linear regression analysis

R2 = 0.201	Beta	P value
Gender	0.256	0.584
Age	-1.209	0.020
Education level	-2.928	< 0.001
Marital status	1.778	0.001
Location of residence	-0.757	0.125
Occupation	-1.900	0.001
Quarantine status	9.091	< 0.001
If preventative measures taken	13.193	< 0.001
If returned to work	1.144	0.064

Table 4 Logistic regression analysis of factors affecting depression levels

Variables	OR	95%CI	P value
Gender	0.993	0.812-1.214	0.942
Age (years old)			0.157
13-30	1.887	0.949-3.753	0.070
31-50	1.926	0.988-3.756	0.054
> 50
Education level	1.623	1.227-2.148	0.001
Marital status			0.002
Unmarried	0.239	0.109-0.523	< 0.001
Married	0.259	0.121-0.552	< 0.001
Divorced/widow
Occupation	1.580	1.242-2.011	< 0.001
Location of residence	1.211	0.981-1.494	0.074
Quarantine status	0.106	0.031-0.363	< 0.001
If take preventative measures taken	0.116	0.070-0.192	< 0.001
If returned to work	0.866	0.658-1.141	0.307

OR: Odds ratio; CI: Confidence interval.