Methods
depression, PD, anxiety
MAY
We analyzed baseline data from two randomized controlled trials of adults initiating ART in Shinyanga region, Tanzania between April-December 2018 (pre-COVID-19 period, n = 530) and May 2021-March 2022 (COVID-19 period, n = 542), respectively. We compared three mental health indicators that were similarly measured in both surveys: loss of interest in things, hopelessness about the future, and uncontrolled worrying. We also examined depression and anxiety which were measured using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 in the pre-COVID-19 period and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 in the COVID-19 period, respectively, and classified as binary indicators per each scale’s threshold. We estimated prevalence differences (PD) in adverse mental health status before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, using stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting to adjust for underlying differences in the two study populations.