{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T11:22:47Z","timestamp":1780572167157,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,12]],"date-time":"2025-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1754956800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007437","name":"Trygfonden","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["151903"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["151903"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007437","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of this paper was to evaluate health, psychological distress, and functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic among Danish adults with and without a history of mental illness. Data were drawn from three online surveys conducted in May 2020 (n = 3134), January 2021 (n = 1170), and January 2022 (n = 1174) as part of the Danish contribution to the Collaborative Outcomes study on Health and Functioning during Infection Times (COH-FIT). The prevalence of mental and physical health issues, psychological distress (stress, sleep problems, loneliness, and boredom) and levels of functioning (self-care, interpersonal relationships, hobbies\/leisure, and work\/education) were evaluated at four different time points stratified by history of mental illness. Findings indicated that physical health was not differentially affected between people with and without prior mental illness. However, mental health declined significantly more among respondents with a history of mental illness. While levels of stress did not differ between the two groups, boredom was more pronounced in May 2020 among those with prior mental illness. Loneliness was significantly higher in this group in January 2021. Sleep disturbances were more pronounced for respondents with former mental illness during the whole period. A decline in functioning was observed in people both with and without a former mental illness. It seemed a little more pronounced for people with mental illness but seldom reached statistical significance. For all measures of health, distress, and functioning, 10\u201320% of respondents reported improvements in health, distress, and functioning during the pandemic, with stress showing the most improvement\u2014one third of participants reported feeling less stressed. In most of the parameters measured, the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to decrease with time. However, the effects were not uniform, and more investigations are needed to understand the whole picture.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph22081260","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,12]],"date-time":"2025-08-12T07:53:44Z","timestamp":1754985224000},"page":"1260","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Health, Psychological Distress, and Functioning During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Danish Adults with and Without a Preexisting Mental Illness"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-8648-9467","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Per","family":"Vendsborg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Danish Mental Health Fund (Psykiatrifonden), Hejrevej 43, DK-2400 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nanna Schneekloth","family":"Jarlstrup","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Childhood Health, Islands Brygge 41, DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sofie H.","family":"Hoffmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestr\u00e6de 6, DK-1455 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Merete","family":"Nordentoft","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CORE\u2014Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, DK-2900 Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, DK-1165 Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), DK-8210 Aarhus, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7254-5646","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christoph U.","family":"Correll","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"},{"name":"Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra\/Northwell, New York, NY 11549, USA"},{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charit\u00e9 Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marco","family":"Solmi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charit\u00e9 Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Mental Health, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4E9, Canada"},{"name":"Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) Clinical Epidemiology Program, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9880-782X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Trevor","family":"Thompson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Chronic Illness and Aging, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6871-5932","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andr\u00e9s","family":"Estrad\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-Detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology& Neuroscience, King\u2019s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8363-963X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Trine Toft","family":"S\u00f8rensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestr\u00e6de 6, DK-1455 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8375-5211","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lau Caspar","family":"Thygesen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestr\u00e6de 6, DK-1455 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"393","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2021.07.048","article-title":"The Collaborative Outcomes study on Health and Functioning during Infection Times in Adults (COH-FIT-Adults): Design and methods of an international online survey targeting physical and mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"299","author":"Solmi","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. 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