{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T10:10:52Z","timestamp":1791281452370,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,11]],"date-time":"2021-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613001600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Huaibei Normal University, China."},{"name":"National University of Singapore iHealthtech Other Operating Expenses","award":["R-722-000-004-731"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R-722-000-004-731"]}]},{"name":"Vingroup Innovation Foundation (VINIF) COVID in Vietnam","award":["VINIF.2020.Covid19.DA07"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["VINIF.2020.Covid19.DA07"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the economy, livelihood, and physical and mental well-being of people worldwide. This study aimed to compare the mental health status during the pandemic in the general population of seven middle income countries (MICs) in Asia (China, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam). All the countries used the Impact of Event Scale\u2013Revised (IES-R) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) to measure mental health. There were 4479 Asians completed the questionnaire with demographic characteristics, physical symptoms and health service utilization, contact history, knowledge and concern, precautionary measure, and rated their mental health with the IES-R and DASS-21. Descriptive statistics, One-Way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression were used to identify protective and risk factors associated with mental health parameters. There were significant differences in IES-R and DASS-21 scores between 7 MICs (p&lt;0.05). Thailand had all the highest scores of IES-R, DASS-21 stress, anxiety, and depression scores whereas Vietnam had all the lowest scores. The risk factors for adverse mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic include age &lt;30 years, high education background, single and separated status, discrimination by other countries and contact with people with COVID-19 (p&lt;0.05). The protective factors for mental health include male gender, staying with children or more than 6 people in the same household, employment, confidence in doctors, high perceived likelihood of survival, and spending less time on health information (p&lt;0.05). This comparative study among 7 MICs enhanced the understanding of metal health in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0246824","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,11]],"date-time":"2021-02-11T23:47:57Z","timestamp":1613087277000},"page":"e0246824","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":351,"title":["The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental health of Asians: A study of seven middle-income countries in Asia"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Cuiyan","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael","family":"Tee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4080-3196","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ashley Edward","family":"Roy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohammad A.","family":"Fardin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wandee","family":"Srichokchatchawan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hina A.","family":"Habib","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bach X.","family":"Tran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shahzad","family":"Hussain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Men T.","family":"Hoang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuan T.","family":"Le","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenfang","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hai Q.","family":"Pham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mahmoud","family":"Shirazi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nutta","family":"Taneepanichskul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yilin","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cherica","family":"Tee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linkang","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ziqi","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giang T.","family":"Vu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Danqing","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bernard J.","family":"Koh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roger S.","family":"McIntyre","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cyrus","family":"Ho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9629-4493","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Roger C.","family":"Ho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7236-7547","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Vipat","family":"Kuruchittham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0246824.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4095","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17114095","article-title":"Studies of Novel Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Global Analysis of Literature","volume":"17","author":"BX Tran","year":"2020","journal-title":"International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0246824.ref002","article-title":"Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review","author":"J Xiong","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of affective disorders"},{"key":"pone.0246824.ref003","first-page":"1","article-title":"Work related stress factors among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic; 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