National and State Trends in Anxiety and Depression Severity …

Recent studies indicate an increase in the percentage of adults who reported clinically relevant symptoms of anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic (1–3). For example, based on U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey (HPS) data, CDC reported significant increases in symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders among adults aged ≥18 years during August 19, 2020–February 1, 2021, with the largest increases among adults aged 18–29 years and among those with less than a high school education (1). To assess more recent national trends, as well as state-specific trends, CDC used HPS data (4) to assess trends in reported anxiety and depression among U.S. adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) during August 19, 2020–June 7, 2021 (1). Nationally, the average anxiety severity score increased 13% from August 19–31, 2020, to December 9–21, 2020 (average percent change [APC] per survey wave = 1.5%) and then decreased 26.8% from December 9–21, 2020, to May 26–June 7, 2021 (APC = –3.1%). The average depression severity score increased 14.8% from August 19–31, 2020, to December 9–21, 2020 (APC = 1.7%) and then decreased 24.8% from December 9–21, 2020, to May 26–June 7, 2021 (APC = –2.8%). State-specific trends were generally similar to national trends, with both anxiety and depression scores for most states peaking during the December 9–21, 2020, or January 6–18, 2021, survey waves. Across the entire study period, the frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms was positively correlated with the average number of daily COVID-19 cases. Mental health services and resources, including telehealth behavioral services, are critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data were obtained from HPS (4), a biweekly, online survey. The survey, developed with assistance from CDC and other federal agencies to assess the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. households, began on April 23, 2020. Samples for HPS are drawn from an extract of the U.S. Census Bureau’s master address file that includes email and mobile telephone numbers of approximately 117 million U.S. housing units. Survey data include sample weights to be used in analyses to generate results representative of U.S. adults aged ≥18 years based on age, sex, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment; the data from this experimental product were designed to produce estimates at state and national levels.* This analysis examined data for adults aged ≥18 years collected from the 19 biweekly surveys (waves) conducted during August 19, 2020–June 7, 2021 (waves 13–31), with breaks during December 22, 2020–January 5, 2021, because of expected decreases in survey response rates during holiday seasons, and during March 30–April 13, 2021, when HPS transitioned to a new survey cycle (Supplementary Table 1, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/110122). The total sample size was 1,526,154 for all 19 waves, ranging from 58,729 (wave 18) to 110,019 (wave 14). Overall survey response rates ranged from 5.3% to 10.3% among the 19 waves examined.

Frequency of experiencing anxiety and depressive symptoms was assessed using the four-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4),^† which includes the two-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-2) scale and the two-item PHQ-2, which assesses symptoms of depression (5). For each survey response, answers were assigned a numerical value: not at all = 0, several days = 1, more than one half of the days = 2, and nearly every day = 3. The anxiety severity score was calculated by summing the two GAD-2 responses, and the depression severity score was calculated by summing the two PHQ-2 responses. The sum of both severity scores could range from 0 to 6.

Weighted mean anxiety and depression severity scores for the United States were calculated for each wave. For state estimates, weighted age-standardized mean scores were calculated using direct standardization. State-specific trends were modeled using linear mixed models with cubic splines for sampling waves (6) to obtain smoothed age-adjusted estimates for each wave. The age-standardized state-level average anxiety and depression severity scores for the 50 states and DC are presented for the first two waves (August 19–September 24, 2020), the peak period in anxiety and depression severity scores nationally (December 9, 2020–January 18, 2021), and the last two waves (May 12–June 7, 2021). APCs for anxiety and depression severity scores per wave were calculated, and bootstrapping was used to obtain 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for APCs^§ (7). A change in the mean severity score indicates a change in the frequency of symptoms. To allow relative comparisons of HPS estimates with those from a nonpandemic period, weighted means and CIs were calculated for anxiety and depression severity scores using data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), with data from 31,997 adults aged ≥18 years.^¶ Daily numbers of COVID-19 cases were obtained from the CDC COVID Data Tracker and were averaged across the same periods that the HPS anxiety and depression symptom data were collected. Average counts of daily cases were compared with the symptom data using Pearson correlations. This activity was reviewed by CDC and was conducted consistent with applicable federal law and CDC policy.**

Nationally, the average anxiety severity scores increased from 2.0 during August 19–31, 2020, to 2.3 during December 9–21, 2020 (APC = 1.5% per wave), reflecting a 13.0% increase in symptoms (Figure) (Supplementary Table 2, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/110123). During this same period, the average depression severity score increased from 1.6 to 2.0, reflecting a 14.8% increase. From December 9–21, 2020, to May 26–June 7, 2021, the average anxiety severity score decreased to 1.7 (APC = −3.1% per wave), reflecting a 26.8% decrease; during this same period, the average depression severity score decreased to 1.4 (APC = −2.8% per wave), reflecting a 24.8% decrease.

Analyses of 2019 NHIS data indicate that the weighted average anxiety and depression severity scores among adults aged ≥18 years were 0.63 and 0.51, respectively. Quarterly weighted average anxiety and depression severity scores ranged from 0.61 to 0.65 and from 0.50 to 0.52, respectively; variation in these quarterly scores was substantially less than that in HPS during similar months.

In most states, the average anxiety and depression severity scores increased from August–September 2020 to December 2020–January 2021 (Table 1) (Supplementary Figure, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/110121). By May–June 2021, anxiety and depression severity scores were similar to or lower than those during August–September 2020. During August–December 2020 and January–June 2021, state-level trends in anxiety and depression severity scores were similar to national trends, with scores for most states peaking during December 9–21, 2020, or January 6–18, 2021. States with larger increases in severity scores during August–December 2020 also tended to have larger decreases during January–June 2021 (Table 2). Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina had the largest percentage increases in anxiety scores during August–December 2020, whereas Minnesota, Mississippi, and South Carolina had the largest percentage increases in depression scores; Florida and New York had the smallest percentage increases in depression and anxiety scores, respectively. During January–June 2021, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Utah had the largest percentage decreases in anxiety scores; Idaho, Michigan, and Wisconsin had the largest percentage decreases for depression severity scores, whereas New York had the smallest decrease in both anxiety and depression scores.

For the same periods that HPS was administered, an association was found between numbers of COVID-19 cases and the frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms. The average number of daily COVID-19 cases was highly positively correlated with anxiety (rho = 0.79) and depression (rho = 0.81) severity scores (Supplementary Table 2, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/110123).

¹Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health and School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, New York; ²Division of Science Integration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC; ³Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii; ⁴Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC; ⁵Division of Health Interview Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC; ⁶Office of Minority Health, CDC; ⁷CDC COVID-19 Response Team, CDC; ⁸Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC