Generalized anxiety disorder during COVID-19 in Canada: Gender-specific association of COVID-19 misinformation exposure, precarious employment, and health behavior change

Background: Growing evidence has demonstrated the mental health sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies have examined how pandemic-related stressors and resilience factors of anxiety affect women and men differently in Canada.

Methods: Population-based data from the Canadian Perspective Survey Series (CPSS-4: July 20 to 26, 2020) were analyzed to examine the relationship between Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7) with COVID-19 misinformation exposure, precarious employment, and health behavior changes, after adjusting for socio-demographic variables. Stratified by gender, two multinomial logistic regression were conducted to calculate the likelihood of having minimal–mild anxiety (1≤ GAD score <10) and moderate–severe anxiety (GAD score ≥10), compared to no anxiety symptoms (GAD=0).

Results: Overall, respondents (n = 3,779) were mainly Canadian-born (76.3%), aged >25 years (85.4%) and high school graduate (87.9%). The population prevalence of moderate–severe GAD was 13.6%, with women significantly higher than men (17.2% vs. 9.9%, p<0.001). For women (n = 2,016), GAD was associated with being absent from work due to COVID-19 reasons (OR=3.52, 99% CI:1.12–11.04), younger age (ORs range from 2.19 to 11.01, p's<0.01), being single/widowed (OR=2.26, 99% CI 1.18–4.33), no past-week contacts outside household (OR=2.81, 99% CI:1.24–6.37), no outdoor exercise (OR=1.86, 99% CI:1.13–3.07). For men (n = 1,753), GAD was associated with frequent fake news exposure (dose-response relations: ORs range from 3.14 to 6.55, p's<0.01), increased time of watching TV (OR=2.62, 99% CI: 1.31 – 5.27), no indoor exercise (OR=1.91, 99% CI:1.07–3.42). For both genders, GAD was associated with increased intake of alcohol, cannabis, and junk/sweet food (p's<0.01).

Limitations: Cross-sectional data prohibits causal inferences; self-reporting biases of GAD symptoms requires confirmation with diagnostic records.

Conclusion: The gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was observed in the associations between clinically significant anxiety with COVID-19 misinformation exposure, job precarity, and addictive behaviors in Canada. Mental health interventions need to be gender responsive and should tackle upstream social determinants of health in this public health emergency.