Usefulness of modified distress thermometer in screening adolescents with COVID-19 for psychological distress

Abstract Background: Children and adolescents are more vulnerable than other age groups to the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The modified DT (m-DT) was recently utilized for measuring the prevalence of psychological distress among adult COVID-19 patients. In the current study, we aimed to test the utilization of this m-DT in screening adolescent patients with COVID-19 for psychosocial distress.Methods: Egyptian adolescent subjects with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 at a University Hospital were enrolled. Binary logistic regression tests were carried out to explore the association between the m-DT cut-off scores of 4 and the clinical variables.Results: Forty-eight percent (87/182) of the study subjects experienced significant (m-DT score ≥ 4) COVID-19 related distress. There were significant differences between those with and without significant distress with regards to length of quarantine, presence of underlying medical disorder, and presence of chronic respiratory disorders. Length of quarantine time, presence of chronic respiratory disease, worry, and fever were independent factors associated with significant distress in COVID-19 adolescent patients.Conclusions: Almost half of the enrolled Egyptian adolescents with COVID-19 experienced significant psychological distress. The m-DT was useful, as the current study had identified length of quarantine time, presence of chronic respiratory disease, worry, and fever as independent factors associated with significant distress in COVID-19 adolescents. Further studies are needed.