Báo cáo nghiên cứu khoa học: The impact of socio-economic factors on the status of postcovid-19 symptoms among university students in Vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL STUDENT RESEARCH REPORT THE IMPACT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS ON THE STATUS OF-POST- COVID-19 SYMPTOMS AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS I

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

STUDENT RESEARCH REPORT THE IMPACT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS ON THE STATUS OF-POST- COVID-19 SYMPTOMS AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN VIETNAM

CN.NC.SV.23_57 Team Leader: Nguyen Thi Thuy My

ID: 19072094 Class: ACF2020A

Hanoi, 15th April 2024

TEAM LEADER INFORMATION

- Program: Accounting and Finance

- Address: Phuong Cach Commune, Quoc Oai District, Ha Noi

- Phone no.: 0868732358

- Email: nttmy03102001@gmail.com

II Academic Results (from the first year to now)

Academic year Overall score Academic rating

III Other achievements:

- KBSV Scholarship of the academic year 2022-2023

- Academic Encouragement Scholarship – Semester I, II of the academic year 2020-2021

- Academic Encouragement Scholarship – Semester II of the academic year 2022-2023

- The Consolation Prize – Student Scientific Research Award – Euréka 2023

- The C Prize in the “Reading Culture Ambassador” Contest 2023 at VNU-level

- The First Prize in the “Reading Culture Ambassador” Contest 2023 at VNUIS-level

- Top 10 – the final round of the Financial Technology Startup Student Contest

- The title “Student of Five Good Merits” at city-level in the academic year 2022-2023

- The title “Student of Five Good Merits” at VNU-level in the academic year 2022-2023

Picture 4x6

- The title “Student of Five Good Merits” at VNUIS-level in the academic year

2020-2021, 2022-2023

TABLES OF CONTENTS

Advisor

(Sign and write fullname)

Thân Văn Thái

Hanoi,17th April 2024

Team Leader

(Sign and write fullname)

Nguyễn Thị Thúy Mỵ

A Abstract 5

B Keywords 5

C Contents 5

1 Project Code: CN.NC.SV.23_57 5

2 Member List: 5

3 Advisor(s): 6

4 Literature review 6

5 Data & methodology: 7

5.1 Research design: 7

5.2 Research subjects: 7

5.3 Data collection: 8

5.4 Sampling method: 8

5.5 Sample size: 8

5.7 Data statistic: 9

6 Results & Discussions: 9

6.1 Characteristic of the study subjects 9

6.2 Relationship between post-COVID-19 symptoms status and gender 15

6.3 Relationship between post-COVID-19 symptoms status and field in medicine 17

6.4 Relationship between post-COVID-19 symptoms status and average monthly income 19

7 Conclusion & Recommendations: 22

8 Appendix: 22

9 References: 28

A Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental and physical health

of individuals worldwide, including university students We conducted a descriptive sectional study using an online survey to explore how socio-economic factors influence the occurrence of post-COVID-19 symptoms among university students in Vietnam We utilized descriptive statistics alongside inferential statistics, including univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses, as well as one-way ANOVA tests with a significance level of p<0.05 In results, 642 participants had complete responses The survey found that 89.41% of its participants fell within the age range of 18 to 22, with 88% having experienced COVID-19 at least once Most respondents reported a monthly income exceeding 5 million VND and resided in urban areas Among the findings, it was observed that difficulty concentrating was more prevalent among females (78.69%), while significant fatigue was notably higher among those with an average monthly income below

cross-5 million VND Interestingly, individuals employed in the healthcare sector often did not manifest clear symptoms This suggests that factors such as gender, age, and income play

a more prominent role in post-COVID-19 symptomatology compared to occupational status in healthcare Thus, further research is warranted to explore potential interventions aimed at ameliorating symptoms and enhancing the overall quality of life among individuals who have recovered from the virus

4 Nguyễn Phương Anh 21073224 ACF2021D fuongan2909@gmail.com

to prevent its spread into the community [1] It is estimated that about 10-15% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 may develop post-Covid-19 disease Common long-term signs and symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, high heart rate, memory and cognitive dysfunction even months after infection, often affecting their quality of life [2] In many countries, people report high levels of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and stress disorders [3] Besides, it also raises concerns about an impending economic crisis and recession Social distancing, self-isolation and travel restrictions have reduced the workforce in all economic sectors and caused many jobs to be lost Schools have closed, demand for goods and manufactured products has decreased [4] A study in Surabaya, Indonesia shows that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused most waste recycling activities to end due to concerns about the spread of Corona virus through collected solid waste That leads to an increase in unmanaged solid waste and reduced income for low-income workers [5] In Pakistan, it is expected that poverty levels will increase by 33.7%, with the greatest impact on primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the economy such as agriculture, education, and health care [6]

In Vietnam, the impact of the nationwide social distancing order has affected the quality

of life and economic well-being of people such as socioeconomic characteristics, affecting household income and social status health status and health-related quality of life [7] For Vietnamese students, the Covid pandemic has both positive and negative impacts on quality of life Student volunteer organizations have joined the frontline in fighting the epidemic, participating in scientific research and inventing practical and meaningful items

In addition, students also had support activities in making droplet shields and artificial ears for anti-epidemic sites Besides, students also face difficulties in studying and student life The estimated number of students nationwide in the 2019-2020 school year is 1,672,881 students from 237 universities who have been greatly affected by the ongoing epidemics [8] With new living and studying context, online students face difficulties: unstable network connection, problems with listening devices, little interaction with lecturers, lack

of activities Extracurricular activities and psychological fatigue make many students sleepy and bored with studying [8] In addition, many students are also affected by many impacts from their families: economic pressure, psychological pressure due to distance along with additional costs incurred in online learning, students or families have to isolated [9] However, each student's adaptability is often not the same, due to different circumstances and objective and subjective influencing factors Therefore, research is needed to better understand the post-Covid-19 mechanisms and their socio-economic impacts on Vietnamese students

5 Data & methodology:

5.3 Data collection:

We used Google Forms to collect the data, and we used a stratified random sampling technique to guarantee that the student sample was representative across levels of age, gender, marital status, status and ethnicity, average monthly income, underlying disease and other characteristics We created a questionnaire with two key sections: Personal Information (section A), Post-COVID-19 Symptoms (section B)

Z: Z core corresponds to the 95% confidence interval CI = 1.96

p: estimated rate = 0.76 (Based on the rate of 76% of patients with at least one COVID-19 symptom in Wuhan (Huang, Huang et al 2021))

post-d: The desired deviation from for p, choose d = 0.05

Substituting into the formula, we can calculate the minimum for this study as n=280, the actual sample size may be larger than the minimum sample size

Based on the rate of people knowledgeable of foods that can cause infectious diseases in the destination country according to the rate of 76% of patients with at least one post-COVID-19 symptom in Wuhan [10] Substituting numbers into the formula, we get n=280 The greater of sample size result above was chosen as the minimum sample size Thus, the minimum sample size for the study was n=280 for one period In fact, the sample size obtained has reached 652

5.6 Research variables:

The affected factors (age, ethnicity, marital status, education level, field in medicine,

treatment, chronic diseases, COVID-19 vaccine, and self-rated health), the status of patient’s post-COVID-19 symptoms (tiredness, difficulty thinking, sleep problems, headache, shortness of breath, cough, fever, et al), and quality of patient’s life (mobility,

self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfortable, anxiety/depression)

5.7 Data statistic:

Stata 14 software was used to analyze the data The impact of socio-economic factors on the status of-post-covid-19 symptoms among university students in Vietnam were described T-test compared the mean between two groups One-way ANOVA was used to test the difference between three or more groups of mean Chi-square test was used to test the relationship between two categorical variables We used p-value to evaluate whether the difference was statistically significant with p-value < 0.05 (*)

6 Results & Discussions:

6.1 Characteristic of the study subjects

A total of 642 survey participants had complete and correct answers to the question In terms of socio-metrics, 182 (28%) were male and 460 (72%) were female The majority of survey participants were between the ages of 18 and 22 using 574 (89,41%), and those over the age of 22 consulted the survey at 10,59% The number of Kinh people employed is 95,63% - 614 out of 642 total samples taken from the survey The target of the survey was students, so the sample number of single people reached 99,37% Of which 11,52% of subjects work and have majors related to the medical field Most of the study participants earned more than or equal to 5 million per month (88,62%) and lived in urban areas (81,77%) In terms of disease characteristics, the number of people infected with CoVid-

19 once used is 88%, along with the insignificant number of people infected with

CoVid-19 more than 2 times More than half of the participants (52,02%) had their first

COVID-19 infection between six months and one year ago Most reported treating COVID-COVID-19 at home (96,57%) Many individuals with COVID-19 infection either show no symptoms at all or have mild ones, and they recover without the need for medical attention [11] More than 66,7% of participants had received at least two COVID-19 vaccines before contracting COVID-19 Vaccine readiness, which is characterized as having received a vaccination or intending to receive one, rose with time, rising from 47.6% in October 2020 to 81.1% in October 2021 In October 2021, more than 75% of survey participants had received or intended to receive a vaccination across the majority of demographic categories [12] Self-assessment of health shows that about 60,43% self-assessment that their health condition

is very good and good (Table 1)

Table 1 Characteristics of the study subjects

Rural 117 18,22% 1,52% 15,41% 21,41% How many times have been infected with COVID-19?

6 months – 1 year 334 52,02% 1,97% 48,14% 55,87%

> 1 years 76 11,83% 1,27% 9,55% 14,58% Where do you get treatment?

At home 620 96,57% 0,71% 94,85% 97,73% Isolation zone 18 2,80% 0,65% 1,77% 4,41%

The collected results spread across Vietnam, focusing more on big cities such as Hanoi (201 participants), Ho Chi Minh City (73 participants), Thai Binh (59 participants) The provinces: An Giang, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh have a low number of surveyors (1 participant)

The results of participants' post-Covid-19 symptoms received a variety of descriptive data

In the general symptoms section, nearly half of the participants showed signs of fatigue (45,63%), only 22,27% showed signs of fatigue and 15,57% had fever Regarding respiratory and heart symptoms; 24,29% of respondents had difficulty breathing after COVID-19; 38,78% had shortness of breath Pulmonary hypertension was present in 76%

of COVID-19 patients and in 19% of control subjects (P < 0.001), and it was always capillary [13] 38,78% had sequelae of cough, and 16,66% had pain chest tightness and 21,80% of heart palpitations or racing after recovering from COVID-19 Among neurological symptoms, 47,50% of respondents had difficulty concentrating or thinking, more than ⅓ had headaches (40,49%) Among post-COVID neurological symptoms, most patients often experience problems such as difficulty thinking, headaches and sleep disorders Fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, such as impaired concentration, short-term memory are the most common and serious features [14] Among neurological symptoms, 42,21% had sleep problems Dizziness when standing up occurred in 21,50% of participants, 11,21% had pins and needles, 24,29% had changes in smell and taste, and 20,56% had depression or anxiety It is widely acknowledged that the psychopathological consequences in COVID-19 survivors, including sadness, anxiety, and cognitive deficits, are the main indications of the "post-acute COVID-19 syndrome." Approximately 35% of patients experienced depressive psychopathology during short-, medium-, and long-term follow-up following infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus [15] Among neurological symptoms, the majority of participants mainly experienced symptoms of difficulty thinking, headaches and sleep-related problems For the study rate of digestive symptoms

post-is not too high, 7,47% had diarrhea and about 11.05% had diarrhea In addition, other symptom rates recorded from other respondents included 25,70% of joint or muscle pain, 3,73% of rashes, and changes in menstrual cycles as notable symptoms accounting for

25,85% of the symptoms (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Post Covid-19 symptoms status

6.2 Relationship between post-COVID-19 symptoms status and gender

In total, the survey had 642 participants, and only 305 people answered that they had ever been infected with Covid Among the above people who were infected with covid, males accounted for 21% (65 people), and females accounted for 79% (240 people) The most common post-COVID-19 symptom status in females is "Difficulty thinking or concentrating" which takes 78,69%; in addition, in males is "Tiredness" which takes 25,26% Post-COVID-19 symptom status rarely occurs in females with 45,83% which is

"Rash", furthermore, in males with 4,11% which is "Changes in menstrual cycles" In another article, breathlessness was the most common symptom reported during COVID-

19, with 60% of patients experiencing increased breathlessness compared to

pre-COVID-19 levels [16] Additional typical symptoms were anxiety, myalgia, excessive exhaustion, depression, and disturbed sleep These symptoms were reported by females more

frequently (Table 2)