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A Longitudinal Study of Depression Before, During, and Following the COVID-19 Nation-Wide Lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand

The number of studies on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic has exploded, but the majority are of poor quality and use cross-sectional designs.1 Of the few longitudinal studies conducted, the results are mixed and most fail to distinguish between data collected during versus after lockdown/ stay-at-home orders.1 Given lockdown/stay-at-home orders involve unprecedented restrictions on movement and social interaction, it is possible that the impacts of the pandemic on mental health are concentrated in these periods. Here, using a longitudinal dataset, we report Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)2 scores of university students before, during, and after a nation-wide lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand. We hypothesized that PHQ-9 scores would increase between the baseline and lockdown timepoints, and then return to baseline once the lockdown restrictions were lifted.